LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer George Ferguson BIDSTRUP
Service No: 430007
Born: Melbourne VIC, 14 July 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 July 1942
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit, RAAF Williamtown NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Mosquito aircraft A52-70), Barrington Tops NSW, 16 April 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Newcastle (Sandgate) War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Oliver and Lizzie Marie Bidstrup, of Broadford, Victoria.
Roll of Honour: Broadford VIC
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 16 April 1945, A52-70, one of four Mosquitoes on a routine cross-country flight to Moree, did not return to Williamtown. Search aircraft failed to locate A52-70. In January 1946 wreckage was discovered in the Barrington Tops National Park and a coroner’s inquest determined that A52-70 had flown into trees in fog or cloud.
The crew members of A52-70 were:
Flying Officer George Ferguson Bidstrup (430007) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Anthony Graham Warren (415454) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 152
Bibliography:
Vincent, D. (David) Mosquito Monograph: A history of Mosquitoes in Australia and RAAF operations, David Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1982
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990