Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

416410 Flight Sergeant Reginald Anderson Byass, No. 156 Squadron,
Royal Air Force
KIA: 03 April 1943

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Reginald
Anderson Byass.
Reginald Byass was born on the 25th of October 1912 in Mount Gambier,
South Australia. Affectionately known as “Reg”, he was the second eldest
of four sons born to Robert Francis Byass, a stable keeper, and his wife
Eliza May. Reg received his education at Mount Gambier Primary School
and later attended the local high school where he was a keen student.
Having grown up around horses, Reg was known as an excellent
horseman in the community and he also enjoyed playing golf in his free
time. On completion of his education, Reg worked briefly for a local land
agent before taking a position as a clerk with Shell Company. He worked
for the company for over a decade and was working as a manager for the
company in Broken Hill when the Second World War broke out in 1939.
A year later, Reg Byass applied to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force.
He had to wait months to be called up and finally commenced aircrew
training in June 1941. Over the months which followed, Byass completed
multiple training courses at different locations across Australia.
In January 1942, he was awarded his flying badge and qualified as a pilot
officer. He was then granted a short period of leave before travelling to
Sydney, where he embarked for active service on the 16th of May.
After a long journey via America, Byass and his comrades arrived in the
United Kingdom in mid-August. He spent several days at a personnel
reception centre before being allocated to a pilot’s advanced flying unit to
complete additional training. In October, Byass joined No. 27 Operational
Training Unit at Lichfield where night bomber crews were training on the
Vickers Wellington medium bomber.

In February 1943, Byass commenced training at No. 1656 Heavy
Conversion Unit where crews learned to operate the new heavy bombers
including the Halifax and Lancaster. On completion of this training in
March, he was allocated to his first operational unit, No. 156 Squadron of
the Royal Air Force. Based out of RAF Warboys in Cambridgeshire, the
Squadron was equipped with Lancasters and, as a member of No. 8
Group, was one of the original pathfinder units, responsible for leading
bomber forces to their targets.
Within just days of joining his new unit, Byass was drawn into two major
raids. The first was an attack on Berlin at the end of March and the second
was an attack on the German submarine base at Saint Nazaire in France
on the 2nd of April. The following day, on the 3rd of April 1943, Byass
and his crew were involved in another raid, this time an attack on the city
of Essen in Germany. This raid was part of a campaign targeting
Germany’s Ruhr Valley- the country’s industrial heartland. The ‘Battle of
the Ruhr’ would go on until the end of July.
The town of Essen in particular was home to many important aspects of
Germany’s industrial production, including the Krupp Factory which
produced steel, artillery, and armaments. Alongside ten other aircraft
from No. 156 Squadron, Byass and his crew took off from RAF Warboys
to attack their target. The attack was largely successful, however at the
conclusion of the raid, it was discovered that Byass and the crew of
Lancaster W4894 had failed to return.

Officially listed as missing in action, nothing was heard from Byass or his
comrades until the 8th of November that year, when the remains of one
of the crew washed ashore at Oosterland in Holland. Following this grim
discovery, the entire crew was presumed to have lost their lives during
the attack on the Ruhr Valley on the 3rd of April 1943.
Their exact fate remained unclear, however authorities believed that they
were most likely shot down by flak or a German night fighter, causing the
aircraft to crash into the ocean.

News of Byass’ death was met with much sadness by his home
community of Mount Gambier. His parent paid tribute to him with a short
notice placed in the local newspaper, it read:
“Loved in life, honoured in death.”

Flight Sergeant Reg Byass was 30 years old.
His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000
Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.
This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the
Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flight Sergeant Reginald
Anderson Byass, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the
hope of a better world.

Meghan Adams
Researcher, Military History Section