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 BRYDEN GEORGE SEAGOE

Sergeant JOHN HENRY HACKETT

Sergeant RICHARD LATTIMORE TRUSTRAM

Sergeant ALFRED JAMES HARRISON