LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Thomas David BELFORD
Service No: 404950
Born: Brisbane QLD, 16 June 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1328), Frisian Islands, 12 July 1942, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Thomas Belford and Elizabeth Belford, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey
Remembered: Panel 107, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Date: 12-13 July 1942
Target: Mine Laying
Total Force: Dispatched – 55, Attacking – 44
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 12, Attacking – 12
Mines Laid: 143
Total Aircraft Lost: 2
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 1
The subsidiary tasks of Bomber Command Nos. 455 and 460 Squadrons continued in March and
April 1942 were to dispatch inexperienced crews mainly against lightly-defended French ports, or to drop leaflets over Lille and Paris exhorting French workers to refrain from making war munitions for Germany. These activities were then replaced by an intensive program of mine-laying, by crews not required for the main bomber force raids. No. 455 had always participated in mine-laying sorties, which previously were restricted to squadrons of No. 5 (Hampden) Group, but all groups were now ordered to perform this duty, and the number of mines laid off enemy-occupied coasts increased enormously. Besides replacing the initiation bombing raids, mine-laying was sometimes ordered as the main effort of a squadron on nights when it could be spared from the strategic offensive.
Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 307-8
Wellington Z1328 took off from RAF Breighton on 12 July 1942 to carry out a mine laying operation in the vicinity of the Frisian Islands off the North West coast of Holland. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Twelve aircraft from the squadron took part in the mission. Following post war investigations when no trace of the missing aircraft was found, the names of the missing crew are recorded on the Runnymede Missing Memorial, Surrey, UK.
The crew members of Z1328 were:
Sergeant Thomas David Belford (404950) (Observer)
Sergeant Frederick Charles Brayne (404948) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Leonard Charles Underwood Dreyer (407844) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Alan Lipson Moyle (407534) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald John Perry (403785) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Raymond John Bruce Sharkey (402551) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/91/244
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985