LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Robert John BROWNING
Service No: 420533
Born: Woonona NSW, 26 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 454 Squadron, Berka III Airfield, Libya
Died: Air Operations (No. 454 Squadron Baltimore V aircraft FW404), vicinity of Leros Island, Aegean Sea, 2 April 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur and Florence Browning; husband of Kathleen Lucy Browning, of Pt. Kembla, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Port Kembla NSW
Remembered: Column 281, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 105, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Woodward Memorial Park World War II Monument, Thirroul NSW
On 2 April 1944, Baltimore FW404, tasked for a reconnaissance of Leros Island, went missing presumed as the result of enemy action. The crew members of FW404 were:
Flying Officer Robert John Browning (420533) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer Andrew Hamilton (412433) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Harold Edward Jarvis (417083) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Bernard George Stokes (413447) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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 A705, 166/6/472
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line