LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Bennet Thomas NOSSITER
Service No: 403278
Born: Tennyson NSW, 10 February 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 453 Squadron, RAF Station Hornchurch, Essex
Died: Air Operations: (No. 453 Squadron Spitfire aircraft AD298), off Deal, Kent, 11 October 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold and Winifred Shirley Nossiter, of Hunter’s Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Lane Cove NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 105, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Australian Remembers 1945-1995 Memorial, Lane Cove NSW
On a Rodeo mission on 11 October 1942, Spitfires AB792 and AD298 collided during an operational fighter sweep, and crashed into the sea about 10 miles east of Deal. The accident occurred when the formation was returning from the sweep in perfect visibility and sunshine at a height of 20,000 feet. It was due to the Pilots flying too closely together while weaving violently and there being many enemy aircraft behind at the time. The port main plane of one aircraft broke off near the root, and both aircraft spun and dived into the sea.
The Pilots were:
Pilot Officer Alan Roy Menzies (403676) (Pilot AB792)
Sergeant Bennet Thomas Nossiter (403278) (Pilot AD298)
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, 163/147/315
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line