LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Robert Ernest YARRA
Service No: 413707
Born: Gladstone QLD, 28 January 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 453 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 453 Squadron Spitfire aircraft MK324), near Abbeville France, 14 April 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Ernest and Harriet Yarra, of Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 105, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Avenue of Trees Memorial, Grafton NSW
Brother of Flight Lieutenant John William Yarra DFM (402823)
At 1250 hours on 14 April 1944, Spitfire MK324 flown by Pilot Officer Yarra was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Liegescourt, France, and crashed killing him. The Squadron had been detailed to attack a Noball target about 16 miles north of Abbeville. As the Squadron approached the target it met intense anti-aircraft on the approach and dive. After Pilot Officer Yarra, No. 3 in Red Section had dropped his bombs his aircraft was seen to receive a direct hit. The starboard wing came away and the rest of the aircraft disintegrated and crashed in flames in the vicinity of the target.
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, 166/45/47
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line