LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Bruce Maxwell Edward McLEOD
Service No: 428577
Born: Kogarah NSW, 23 June 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 November 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 78 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Breighton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 78 Squadron Halifax aircraft MZ460), Germany, 4 April 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Hamburg War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Duncan McFarlane McLeod and Ann McLeod, of Albury, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Albury NSW
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1956 hours on the night of 4 April 1945 Halifax MZ460 took off from Breighton detailed to bomb the Rhenania oil plant at Harburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take- off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team report stated “the aircraft crashed at Harburg which is a town near Hamburg.” All the crew were members killed.
The crew members of MZ460 were:
Pilot Officer James Gerald Burns (191136) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Ronald Edwin Cox (49800) (RAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer John Swanson Johnston (196324) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Alfred James Lewsley (154353) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Bruce Maxwell Edward McLeod (428577) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Martin Henry Pattison (54309) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Albert Kenneth Taylor (154090) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/26/875