LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Robert Thomas THOMPSON
Service No: 419920
Born: Castlemaine VIC, 7 February 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 October 1942
Unit: No. 100 Squadron, Nadzab
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 100 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-432), near Bairnsdale VIC, 8 December 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Bairnsdale War Cemetery, VIC
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George William and May Thompson; husband of Valrie Florence Thompson, of Coburg.
Roll of Honour: Coburg VIC
Remembered: Panel 105, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
No. 100 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-432 crashed near Bairnsdale on 8 December 1944. The aircraft was being taken to No. 1 Aircraft Depot (at RAAF Station Laverton VIC) for tests. Killed in this accident were:
Flight Lieutenant Robert Murray Buchanan (408622) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Walter James Ellen (431146) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Colin Arthur Lee Haslam (436910) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Kenneth James Hovenden (410412) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Robert Thomas Thompson (419920) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Corporal James Popple Warren (42451) (No. 2 Airfield Construction Squadron) (Passenger)
Leading Aircraftman Edward Gilbert Willett (410277) (No. 25 Operational Base Unit) (Passenger)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-line Record A9845, 257
Bibliography:
Graham, B. (Burton) and Frank Smyth, A Nation Grew Wings: The Story of the RAAF Beaufort Squadrons in New Guinea, Winterset House Publishers Melbourne VIC, 1946
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990