Sergeant BRIAN DOUGLAS MOSS



Rank | Sergeant |
Forenames | BRIAN DOUGLAS |
Surname | MOSS |
Initials | B D |
Place of Birth | Unknown |
Date of Birth | Unknown |
Date of Death | Friday, 17 April 1942 |
Age | 25 |
Nationality | Unknown |
Residence or Entered Service From | SALISBURY, SOUTHERN RHODESIA (NOW ZIMBABWE) |
Service Number | 777646 | Force |
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Service/Corps/Regiment | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve |
Unit / Ship / Battalion / Squadron | 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Royal Air Force |
Military Honours and Awards | |
Place of Burial/Commemoration |
BEAUMONT-LE-ROGER COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Roll of honour |
Grave/Memorial Location | 1-10. Collective grave. |
Previous Place(s) of Burial | Unknown |
Epitaph | |
Family Details | SON OF HERBERT MOSS, AND OF MARION BEATRIX MOSS, OF SALISBURY, SOUTHERN RHODESIA. |
Additional Information
Sergeant BRIAN DOUGLAS MOSS was 1 of 7 crew on board Avro Lancaster Mk I, L7565 KM-V, with 44 Squadron, Royal Air Force taking off at 15.12 hrs from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom.1
Their mission was daring daylight bombing raid on the diesel-engine manufacturing workshop building in the M.A.N. factory at Augsburg on the 17th April 1942. Of the 12 Avro Lancaster bombers from 44 Squadron and 97 Squadron that carried out the raid, 4 Lancasters were shot down en route to their mission objective. This included Avro Lancaster Mk I, L7565 KM-V. A further 3 Avro Lancaster bombers were shot down near their target. Despite these heavy losses the operation was succesful in destroying their target.2
The crew of Avro Lancaster Mk I, L7565 KM-V were shot down by fighters as they flew near the boundary of Beaumont le Roger airfield, in Eure, Normandy with the 5 other aircraft from 44 Squadron. Unfortunately for the bomber crews a group of Messerschmitt Bf 109's and Focke-Wulf Fw 190's of II Gruppe/ Jagdgeschwader 2 Richthoffen were in various stages of landing at the airfield, following an engagement in the Cherbourg area with some of the diversionary Royal Air Force raids. Spotting the Avro Lancaster bombers the German fighters gave chase.3 Avro Lancaster L7565 KM-V was the first casualty, shot down by Hauptmann Heine Greistart, and the aircraft crash landed into trees at le Tilleul-Lambert, Eure, Normandy, France. All the crew were killed and were buried in the Beumont-le-Roger some 8.1 miles (13 kilometres) East of Bernay.4
The 7 men of Avro Lancaster MK I, L7565 KM-V were:
Warrant Officer JOHN FRANK BECKETT DFM
Sergeant BRIAN DOUGLAS MOSS
Flight Sergeant ALFRED EDGAR ROSS, Royal Canadian Air Force
Sergeant RICHARD LATTIMORE TRUSTRAM
Sergeant ALFRED JAMES HARRISON
References |
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1. | Research Carl Shilleto, sources: Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Vol:3 Aircraft and Crew Losses 1942, p.72, by W R Chorley, Midland Publishing. Published 1994. |
2. |
Research Carl Shilleto, sources: from Middlebrook, Martin and Chris Everitt. The Bomber Command War Diaries; An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945. pp.258. Midland Publishing. Published 1996. |
3. | http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/bombercommandaugsburg17thapril1942.cfm. |
4. | Research Carl Shilleto, sources: Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Vol:3 Aircraft and Crew Losses 1942, p.72, by W R Chorley, Midland Publishing. Published 1994. |
Acknowledgements and Credits |
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Source of original data: | Commonwealth War Graves Commission |
Headstone photograph: | Carl Shilleto |
Cross marker photograph: | |
Individual photograph: | |
Additional photographs provided by: | |
Additional information provided by: | Carl Shilleto |
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