LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Thomas Naunton THOMAS
Service No: 404698
Born: Cairns QLD, 28 April 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1940
Unit: No. 148 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 148 Squadron Wellington aircraft DV250), Libya/Egypt region, 27 September 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Tom Naunton Thomas and Kathleen Veronica Thomas; husband of Margaret Elizabeth Thomas, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Column 266, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2010 hours on the night of 27 September 1942 Wellington DV520 took off to bomb harbour installations at Tobruk Harbour. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. The bomb load carried was 3 x 250lb (110kg) General Purpose (GP) bombs and 36 x 40lb (18kg) GP bombs. Following post war searches and enquiries it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of DV520 were:
Flight Sergeant Neville Graham Beadle (1384238) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Manwaring Steward Moir (1343513) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant James Noble (1325711) (RAFVR) (Front Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Naunton Thomas (404698) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant James Weir (1063792) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer II Raymond John Williams (R/77251) (RCAF) (Observer)
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, 163/166/267