LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Alexander Edward MOSS
Service No: 415265
Born: Perth WA, 9 September 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB155), Lincolnshire, 19 March 1945, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Frederick and Nellie Ellen Moss, of Bellevue, Western Australia; husband of Flora Jean Moss, of Bellevue.
Roll of Honour: Bellevue WA
Remembered: Panel 108, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
No. 460 Squadron on 18th-19th March attacked Hanau, a rail junction east of Frankfurt, with 22 aircraft and gained good results. On this raid the crew captained by Flying Officer Worsley (1) claimed as probably destroyed an Me-262 jet-engined fighter, of the type which six months earlier had appeared to pose a grave threat to relatively slow – flying bombers but which had been rarely employed in significant force.
(1) Flight Lieutenant Charles Frederick Worsley DFC (413066) was discharged from the RAAF on 7 March 1946.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Page 424
Lancaster PB155 took off from RAF Binbrook at 0052 hours on 19 March 1945 to bomb Hanau, Germany. Bomb load 1 x 4000 lb (pound) (1,800 kg) and incendiaries. Twenty two aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and PB155 when returning from the mission crashed at approximately 0812 hours near Kelstern village, Lincolnshire. There was low cloud and reduced visibility at the time and Kelstern airfield was trying to home the aircraft towards the runway, but it crashed when it hit high ground while making its approach and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of PB 155 were:
Pilot Officer Geoffrey Seymour Browne (430436) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jack Norman David (1583729) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Llewellyn William Grant (431562) (Navigator)
Warrant Officer George Thomas McBryde (429475) (Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer Alexander Edward Moss (415265) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Rex Crespin Schodde (436950) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Jack Stacey (432893) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
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, 166/28/561
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985