LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Alan Arthur THOMPSON
Service No: 401199
Born: Moonee Ponds VIC, 2 February 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 January 1941
Unit: No. 3 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Cranwell
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 3 Coastal) Operational Training Unit Whitley aircraft P5083), North Sea, 9 March 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Pruett Thompson and Elsie Pennel Thompson; husband of Mary Rucker Thompson, of Elwood, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Essendon VIC
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 9 March 1942 Whitley P5083 along with four other aircraft was detailed to carry out a navigational training exercise over the North Sea to a position 300 miles east of Brora on the east coast of Scotland. At 1045 hours P5083 took off from Cranwell and a message was received from the aircraft at 1237 hours. At about 1600 hours the weather at Cranwell deteriorated, and P5083 could not be contacted by base. The other aircraft returned to base independently between 1700 and 1730 hours. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of P5083 were:
Flight Sergeant Francis Harold Emmanuel Anger (R/67247) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Frederick Charles Gill (112373) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Alfred Beattie Gabriel Galloway (R/69154) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John William Mosey (R/78246) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Alan Arthur Thompson (401199) (Observer)
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, 163/166/188