LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant George Comrie THOMSON
Service No: 405436
Born: Brisbane QLD, 19 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1941
Unit: No. 142 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Grimsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 142 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1480), Germany, 16 September 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Aubrey Frederick and Estelle Thomson, of Clayfield, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2022 hours on the night of 16 September 1942 Wellington Z1480 took off from Grimsby detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. W R Chorley states that “the aircraft crashed near Dusseldorf and all the crew lost their lives.”
The crew members of Z1480 were:
Sergeant Jack William Augustus Bennett (1381048) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Albert Morriss Clarke (1026143) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Frederick Walter Darley (954705) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Anthony Henry Gauvain Sandon (116089) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Comrie Thomson (405436) (Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 3 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1942, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1994
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/166/259