LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Raymond William MOFFAT
Service No: 414587
Born: Brisbane QLD, 4 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 October 1941
Unit: No. 248 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Banff
Died: Air Operations: (No. 248 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HR632), off the Norwegian Coast, 12 March 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick and Lillian Beatrice Moffat; husband of Marjorie Moffat, of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Rockhampton QLD
Remembered: Panel 283, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the afternoon of 12 March 1945 Mosquito HR632 was one of a formation of aircraft detailed to carry out an anti-shipping sweep in the Skaggerak and Kattagat. The patrol had been completed without incident, and the formation was 50 nautical miles south-west of Lister (Norway), when an interception was carried out by enemy fighter aircraft. Reports of other aircrew suggest that aircraft HR632 had been straggling up to this time and its position in the formation was No 2 in starboard section, rear squadron. One pilot of No 333 Squadron – acting as fighter crew to the formation – saw an enemy aircraft attacking and apparently scoring hits on a Mosquito at the rear of the formation. He shot the enemy aircraft down but saw nothing further of Mosquito HR 632.
The crew members of HR632 were:
Flying Officer Bruce Andrew Stanley Abbott (422360) (Navigator (W))
Warrant Officer Raymond William Moffatt (414587) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/28/553