FREEMAN, Maurice Joseph
| Service Number: | 413561 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 September 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Pilot Officer |
| Last Unit: | No. 460 Squadron (RAAF) |
| Born: | Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, 20 September 1915 |
| Home Town: | Bathurst, Bathurst Regional, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Station Overseer |
| Died: | Flying Battle, Germany, 23 November 1943, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: |
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany Plot 6. Row G. Grave 18., Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Germany |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, International Bomber Command Centre Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 12 Sep 1941: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Aircraftman 2 (WW2), 413561, Aircrew Training Units | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Sep 1941: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, 413561 | |
| 13 Sep 1941: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, 413561, Aircrew Training Units, Empire Air Training Scheme | |
| 23 Nov 1943: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, 413561, No. 460 Squadron (RAAF), Air War NW Europe 1939-45 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Steve Larkins
Maurice Joseph FREEMAN was born in Bathurst New South Wales, on 20 Sep 1915.
He was employed as a Station Overseer at the time of his enlistment on 12 Sep 1941. Screened and selected for aircrew training, he then underwent the length process required to take a new enlistee to qualified pilot flying on operations, unde the Empire Air Training Scheme, which generally comprised :
Induction Training - at State-based centres generally in the trainee's State of enlistment
Elementary Flying Training - On the legendary DH82 Tiger Moth
Service Flying School - DH 82Tiger Moth / Avro Ansons or Airspeed Oxfords
Multi engine training - Generally on Ansons or Oxfords
Heavy Conversion - to the aircraft class they would be flying on Operations
Operational Training (where trainees were 'crewed up' with the men with whom they could go to war) in the aircraft type they would be operating.
Thereafter, they were posted to an operational squadron (in this case No. 460 Squadron, Australia's most experienced bomber squadron, operating from the UK at Binbrook in Lincolnshire).
Their aircraft, Lancaster tail number ED644, one of 26 despatched from Binbrook, was lost on its third operation on the night of 23 November 1943, a raid on Berlin. Three of the crew were killed (the pilot and the two gunners; the pilot either inacpacitated by enemy fire or remaining with the aircraft to enable the crew to get out, and the two gunners either incapacitated or unable to escape) and the remainder taken prisoner.
The three men KIA are buried in the Reichswald Forest cemetery in Germany.
*Pilot - Maurice Joseph FREEMAN
Engineer - D A JACKSON (RAF)
Navigator - A E ASHLEY
Bomb Aimer - P A LIDDLE
Wireless Operator - C R KINGSMILL
**Mid Upper Turret Gunner / Rear Gunners; David ABERLE, T ELLIOTT
*= KIA
Click images to start slideshow.