LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Robert Beckett ALBON
Service No: 401358
Born: Canterbury VIC, 5 August 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 February 1941
Unit: No. 210 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Hamworthy
Died: Air Operations: (No. 210 Squadron Catalina aircraft RP232), Bay of Biscay, 13 June 1943, Aged 22 years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley and Mabel Albon, of Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Preston VIC
Remembered: Panel 187, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At about 1900 hours on 13 June 1943 Catalina RP232 took off from Hamworthy to carry out a patrol in Bay of Biscay and was to return to Base on the afternoon of 14 June. The aircraft failed to return and its crew members were presumed lost at sea.
The crew members of RP232 were:
Flying Officer Robert Beckett Albon (401358) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Nicholas John Brokenshire (649613) (RAF)
Flight Sergeant Stanley Charles Everitt (908043) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Benjamin Joseph Fosh (1475300) (RAFVR)
Pilot Officer William Reginald Gardiner (51700) (RAF)
Sergeant Anthony Kenneth Hodges (955769) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Henry Robert Meares (1231664) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer William Randolph (123456) (RAFVR)
Sergeant James Reid (936510) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Geoffrey Silva DFC (402258) (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, 166/3/66