LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Robert Rupert Bisgrove OWEN
Service No: 403292
Born: Sydney NSW, 11 January 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Syerston
Died: Air Operations: (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4166), Germany, 20 September 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Rupert Norman and Edith Margaret Francis Owen, of Sans Souci, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1945 hours on the night of 19 September 1942 Lancaster W4166 took off from Syerston detailed to bomb Munich, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed in a wood on the west side of Rochem, Germany, and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W4166 were:
Pilot Officer William Harry Donovan (J/9570) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Peter John Maxwell (1257889) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Donald Tennant McLean (403276) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Rupert Bisgrove Owen (403292) (Pilot)
Sergeant Arthur Gladstone Sale (1184510) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Thompson (807161) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John Olmstead Tuller (R/77248) (RCAF) (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, 163/148/287