LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Aubrey Glenn CURTIS
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 36160 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: 1938
Unit: No. 8 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Khormaskar, Yemen
Died: Air Operations: (No. 8 Squadron Blenheim aircraft L8503), Gulf of Aden, 10 August 1940, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Richard and Ivy Curtis; stepson of Margretta Curtis, of Yamba, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Column 239, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel Supplementary 12, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flying Officer Curtis was an Australian Cadet trained for the RAF who embarked for the UK on 16 July 1938.
On 10 August 1940, three Blenheims from No. 8 Squadron were tasked to bomb the village of Dhubbato, Somalia, that was held by Italian Forces. On the return journey, Blenheims L8503 and L8506 collided over the Gulf of Aden and were lost.
The crew members of Blenheim L8503 were:
Flying Officer Aubrey Glen Curtis (36160) (RAF) (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Harold Joseph McEleavy (541082) (RAF)
Sergeant Vernon Harry Frederick Witt (564305) (RAF)
The crew members of Blenheim L8606 were:
Pilot Officer Albert James George Bisson (41774) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Donald John Ross Wilson (527234) (RAF)
Sergeant Norman Frank Wilson (747962) (RAFVR)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Gunby, David and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1: 1939-1942, Midland Publishing Hinckley UK, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/26/120
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990