LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Richard Mostyn Graham BANBURY
Service No: 404746
Born: Brisbane QLD, 14 May 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1940
Unit: No. 148 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 148 Squadron Wellington aircraft HD947), North Africa, 28 September 1942, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Graham Banbury and Eleanor Burkitt Banbury, of Grange, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Column 265, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2235 hours on the night of 28 September 1942 Wellington HD947 took off, to attack enemy shipping in Tobruk Harbour, Libya. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. The aircraft carried 4 x 500 lb (220 kg) bombs, 2 x 4.5 flares and 750 gallons of petrol. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HD947 were:
Flight Sergeant Richard Mostyn Graham Banbury (404746) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Henry Gresham (1330539) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Warrant Officer II David Douglas Miller (R/68104) (RCAF) (Front Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Donald Alex Mitchell (R/61680) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Stanley Charles Pearse (46903) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Alan Holden Threlfall (1060131) (RAFVR) (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, 163/90/453