LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Cupples BERULDSEN
Service No: 410034
Born: Edinburgh, Scotland, 10 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 235 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Banff
Died: Air Operations: (No. 235 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HR127), Norway, 16 December 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Sola Churchyard, Norway
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Einar Bjorn and Helen Yeats Beruldsen, of Traralgon, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 16 December 1944 Mosquito HR127 was one of a formation of six aircraft which took off from Banff to carry out a patrol off the Norwegian coast. The aircraft attacked a 3500 ton motor vessel in Ktaskheilesund, just north of the Sogne Fiord and approx 40 miles north of Bergen. Shortly after, the formation was attacked by an enemy strike force. Flight Lieutenant Baulderson was at the rear of the formation and during the attack he was heard to say over the VHF “I’ve got it”. Very shortly after a bright flash and column of black smoke was seen on the hillside about 200 feet from the top of Losneo, and it was assumed that the aircraft had crashed. Both the crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of HR127 were:
Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Cupples Beruldsen (410034) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Tom Damas Seller Rabbitts (185410) (RAFVR) (Navigator Wireless Operator)
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, 166/5/854