RABBETS, Frederick Thomas
| Service Number: | 426154 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 May 1942 |
| Last Rank: | Flying Officer |
| Last Unit: | No. 6 Operational Training Unit Nowra |
| Born: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 12 March 1918 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Brisbane State High School, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Teacher |
| Died: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 December 2008, aged 90 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Privately Cremated |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 23 May 1942: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 426154 | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Mar 1943: | Embarked Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 426154, embarked Melbourne for UK | |
| 21 Feb 1944: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, appointed to Commission | |
| 26 Jun 1945: | Embarked Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 426154, No. 6 Operational Training Unit Nowra, embarked UK for Sydney | |
| 6 Nov 1945: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 426154 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Flying Officer Frederick Thomas Rabbets (Service No:426154) enlisted in the RAAF on 23 May 1942 at No 3 Recruiting Centre Brisbane as an Aircraftman II - mustered as Air Crew, re mustered as Navigator. Leading Aircraftman Rabbets served in the UK (Shawbury and Chivenor) and Gibraltar with 179 Squadron from 6 March 1943 to 26 June 1945, and was appointed to a Commission (Pilot Officer) on 21 February 1944, and as Flying Officer on 21 August 1944. F/O Rabbets returned to Sydney on 26 June 1945, and was attached to 6 OTU at Discharge on 6 November 1945.
Fred was born in Brisbane, QLD in 1918, eldest of two children of Frederick Leslie Grenfell Rabbets (b1885 in Grenfell, New South Wales) and Jessie Mekiel Hardie (b1884 in Brisbane, QLD). Frederick was a Journaist in Brisbane, where he and Jessie married in 1908. The couple settled in Brisbane, where they raised their family and Frederick was a Journalist.
Fred started work as an Assistant Teacher in 1936, and worked in schools in Kiama and Pomona, and on the Darling Downs before enlisting in the RAAF in 1942. Following Discharge, Fred was in Brisbane in 1945 when he married Marjorie May Bensley (b1920 in Brisbane, QLD) - Marjorie was working in Brisbane as a Ledger Machine Operator. Fred completed a Bachelor of Arts, and returned to Teaching - Canungra, the Darling Downs, Tully before settling in Brisbane in the early 1960s. Marjorie died in 2001 and Fred in 2008.
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