LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Roye Wilmott BROWN
Service No: 404932
Born: Bayonne US, 4 September 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 January 1941 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 103 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elsham Wolds
Died: Air Operations: (No. 103 Squadron Wellington aircraft W5664), North West Europe, 12 April 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Egbert Sumner Brown and Mabel Victoria Brown, of Ascot, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hughenden QLD
Remembered: Panel 109, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2113 hours on 12 April 1942 Wellington W5664 took off from Elsham Wolds to bomb Essen, Germany. No message was received from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base from the mission. Aircraft from the squadron which attacked the target reported they encountered the usual amount of anti-aircraft fire and searchlight activity over enemy territory.
The crew members of W5664 were:
Flying Officer Roye Wilmott Brown (404932) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Duncan Campbell (1108043) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Edward Ernest Fairhurst (1051595) (RAFVR) (First Wireless Telegraphist/Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Gillespie (43533) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Cerris Moseley (1254452) (RAFVR) (Second Wireless Telegraphist/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frank White (1163761) (RAFVR) (Air 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, 163/24/237
Bibliography:
Charlwood, D.E.C. (Donald Ernest Cameron) (408794) No Moon Tonight (Angus and Robertson 1956), Penguin Ringwood VIC, 3134, 1991