LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Phillip Rossiter MITCHELL
Service No: 406812
Born: Narrogin WA, 23 September 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1941
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 12 Squadron Wellington aircraft BJ776), North West Europe, 26 September 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles D. and Ida Marian Mitchell, of Narrogin, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Narrogin WA
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Wellington BJ776 of 12 Squadron took off from RAF Station Wickenby at 7.30 pm on 26 September 1942 to carry out a sea mining mission in German territorial waters in the Kiel Bay area. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BJ776 were:
Flight Sergeant Jack Bruce Harden (411320) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Phillip Rossiter Mitchell (406812) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Alwyn Charles Rich (403375) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Harold Classen Thompson (401864) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Jack Stratford Ward (402989) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/144/214