LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Mervyn THOMAS
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
RAF Service No: 40648 (RAF)
Born: Location, Date unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Hampden I aircraft L4081), off Norway, 12 April 1940, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Llewellyn Thomas and Amy Thomas, of Caulfield, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 10, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
On 12 April 1940, Hampden L4081 took off from Waddington at 0815 hours to attack shipping in Kristiansand Harbour, Norway. The aircraft was shot down off the Norwegian Coast at 1215 hours by the combined efforts of flak and fighters. There were no survivors and all are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
The crew members of L4081 were:
Corporal Alexander Scougal Gibson Barrass (550995) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Robert Jopling (550598) (RAF) (Wireless Operator)
Pilot Officer Mervyn Thomas (40648) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Stanley Vernon Vart (580261) (RAF) (Observer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Chorley, W.R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 1 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1939-1940, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1992
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records