LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Frank Willis MOSS MID
Service No: 421040
Born: Wollongong NSW, 29 May 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 150 Squadron (RAF)
Awarded the Mentioned in Despatches (MID)
Died: Air Operations (No. 150 Squadron Wellington aircraft LP514), Slovenia, 21 August 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Belgrade War Cemetery, Serbia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Joseph and Jane Moss, of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wollongong NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
The MID awarded to Pilot Officer Moss was promulgated in the King’s Birthday Honours list of
1945.
Pilot Officer Moss survived loss of No. 150 Squadron Wellington aircraft HF527 on 15 February 1944 in which Warrant Officer Stanley Edwin Smith (410111) (Pilot) was fatally injured.
Wellington LP514 which took off at 1952 hours on the night of 20 August 1944 was one of a number of aircraft from the Squadron detailed to attack St Valentin, Austria. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A later report by a Missing Research and Enquiry team operating in Yugoslavia stated “the aircraft caught fire in the air, crashed and exploded on impact at the village of Prezid at 0015 hours on the 21 August 1944.” Prezid is situated 28kms south of Ljubljana, Slovenia. All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of LP514 were:
Warrant Officer James Carswell (R/152469) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Norman Hustwaite (1602193) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Frank Willis Moss MID (421040) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant James Eric Richardson (1473803) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Wooller (1357429) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
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, 166/28/382