LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Vincent Leigh BROWN

Service No: 400139
Born: Mildura VIC, 28 February 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1940
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Topcliffe
Died: Air Operations: (No. 102 Squadron Whitley aircraft Z9129), North Sea, 8 November 1941, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James William Brown, and of Edith Clara Brown, of Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Red Cliffs VIC
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2007 hours on 7 November 1941Whitley Z 9129 took off from Topcliffe to attack Berlin. A message was received from the aircraft at 0642 hours on 8 November placing the aircraft 60miles north of Borkum Island, Germany, part of the Friesian group of islands. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft and Z9129 and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations when no trace of the missing aircraft or crew members was found, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of Z9129 were:

Pilot Officer James Cecil Alcuin Allchin (106364) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Vincent Leigh Brown (400139) (Observer)
Sergeant William Charles Clarke (800570) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force))
Sergeant James Allison Steeves (R/64734) (RCAF)
Sergeant Thomas Henry Thorley (1152760) (RAFVR) (Pilot)

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, 163/93/325

Book Now Book Now