LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Arthur Benjamin BRENNAN
Service No: 426030
Born: Brisbane QLD, 18 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 May 1942
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NF960), Germany, 28 October 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Johanna Mary Brennan, of East Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1305 hours on 28 October 1944 Lancaster NF960 took off from Witchford to attack Cologne, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was established that the aircraft had crashed in the garden of a house at 1072 Koaln-Berliner Strasse, Strasserhof, Burscheir about 12 miles north east of Cologne. The aircraft had been hit by anti-aircraft fire and had exploded on impact with wreckage being scattered over a wide area. Five crew members were killed and two were taken prisoner.
The crew members of NF960 were:
Flight Sergeant John MacAulay Bovill (428015) (Air Bomber) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 January 1946
Warrant Officer Arthur Benjamin Brennan (426030) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ernest Gooch (1862966) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Lieutenant Brian Maurice Hynes (415971) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Charles Francis Raybould (2221557) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Percy Weston Taylor (1084566) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant George Harold Wiggin (1582724) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/6/761