LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Bruce Lindsay NEGUS
Service No: 414072
Born: Maryborough QLD, 23 July 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4276), Germany, 18 October 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Norman Edward Negus, and of Ethel May Negus, of Auchenflower, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bowen QLD
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1621 hours on 18 October 1943 Lancaster W4276 took off from Spilsby to attack Hanover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Other aircraft on the same mission reported 10/10ths cloud over the target, with the defences of heavy flak being moderate and inaccurate, with some searchlight activity. Fighter opposition over the target area was accurate. It was later established that the aircraft was shot down over Germany. One crew member survived the resulting crash and was taken prisoner. In 1950 post war investigations and enquiries failed to reveal any trace of the missing crew members and they were recorded as having no known graves.
The crew members of W4276 were:
Sergeant Arthur Haydn Davies (981492) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Alfred Keith Emery (1316711) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant George Wilfred Laybourn (1585575) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant J S McLean (803467) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Ronald Henry Morel (1610496) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Bruce Lindsay Negus (414072) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Albert William Stringer (137364) (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, 166/29/63