LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Bernard Kingston MAUNSELL
Service No: 410001
Born: South Brisbane QLD, 31 July 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB282), Germany, 27 January 1944, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Francis and Clare Isabel Maunsell, of Murrumbeena, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Murrumbeena VIC
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster JB282 took off from RAF Wickenby at 1727 hours on the night of 27/28th January 1944 to bomb Berlin, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft was attacked by a night fighter and exploded in the air. Six crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of JB282 were:
Flight Sergeant Frederick Sydney Carran (415508) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Squadron Leader Hadyn William Goule DFC (46342) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Harold Salisbury Howie (1624757) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Francis Mostyn Kelleher (162868) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Bernard Kingston Maunsell (410001) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Roys Warren Moller DFM (404039) (Navigator) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 12 June 1946
Sergeant Denis Walter Price (1458348) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
In a later report by the then Warrant Officer Moller he stated “The aircraft crashed between the villages of Ehren and Wind Kum approximately 30 miles north west of Osnabruck, Germany.
The aircraft was flying at 21,000 feet, and had just crossed the coast on the way in when it was attacked by an unseen night fighter near Osnabruck. There was no time for conversation as the aircraft exploded almost instantly. I was blown through the side with my chute on, but the rest of the crew did not have their chutes on at the time of the explosion and were definitely killed.”
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 410001