Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Pilot Officer Robert John Proud
 

Robert Proud, known to his family as Roby, was born in Waverley, Sydney in 1917. He was the son of John (Jack) Thomas Proud and Ivy Henderson (née Quin). He had an older sister, Miriam Sheila, and a half-sister, Joan. Roby’s father had passed away in 1919 during the Spanish influenza epidemic, which also nearly claimed the life of his mother. In 1922, Ivy married George William Henderson, the adopted son of a West Australian politician. He raised the children as his own, along with Joan, who was born in 1928. The family lived first on Penshurst Street and later on Sydney Street in Willoughby. Roby was educated at Marist Brothers High School, North Sydney, where he obtained his intermediate certificate.

A clerk and secretary for Ira L. & A. C. Berk Ltd, Sydney, Roby enlisted in the RAAF Reserve in April 1941 and was called up for service on 13 September 1941. He had previously served as a gunner in the 7th Field Regiment in the Militia from September 1940 until his enlistment in the RAAF Reserve. He completed his initial training at 2 ITS in Bradfield Park. Towards the end of the course, he married Agnes Lillian Warren of Kempsey at St Thomas’ Catholic Church in Willoughby. Roby’s best man was a fellow airman, AC2 Ernest Barrett,[1] of Chatswood, who had just enlisted in the RAAF.

In December 1941, Roby joined Pilots’ Course 20 at RAAF Narromine. On completion of the course, he was selected to remain in Australia to complete his flying training at 1 SFTS at RAAF Point Cook, Vic.

Roby successfully completed his flying training at Point Cook. On 27 May 1942, he graduated and was awarded his wings. But, because he had only completed a pre-war intermediate flying course, he had to remain in Point Cook to undertake further courses until his promotion to sergeant on 17 September 1942. After a short period of leave in Sydney with Lillian, Roby embarked for the United Kingdom on 17 October. He arrived at 11 PDRC in Bournemouth in early December 1942. On the journey, Roby was told that his daughter Diana Mary had been born on 19 November.

Roby had to wait almost six months at 11 PDRC. He was ill and hospitalised twice before he was allocated a position on an advanced flying course at 15 AFU(P) at RAF Leconfield. There, he would fly the Airspeed Oxford aircraft. While he was waiting at 11 PDRC, Roby was promoted to flight sergeant. He completed his advanced flying training course in mid-July. At this time, he also commenced operational training at 27 OTU at RAF Lichfield in Staffordshire, where he would form the nucleus of a crew.

Training at Lichfield was conducted on the twin-engine Wellington bomber, which required crews who were considered operationally capable to undergo conversion training to a heavy bomber before joining a squadron. For Roby’s crew, it was Lancasters, and they learnt to fly the famous aircraft at 1662 HCU at RAF Blyton in Lincolnshire. They were joined there by the last two members of the crew – the flight engineer and second air gunner.

Unusually, Roby and his crew spent over three months at the HCU. The reason was not recorded, but it may have been due to a lack of aircraft as a number of new Lancaster squadrons were forming at this time. Roby was hospitalised for a few days in January 1944; that may have contributed to the delay. Roby and his crew eventually completed their training and became members of No. 460 Squadron RAAF[2] in early February 1944.

460 Squadron was the most famous bomber squadron in the RAAF, but, sadly, it also suffered the most casualties. Formed in 1942, initially with Wellingtons and then briefly with Halifax aircraft, it flew the most missions of any RAAF bomber squadron and dropped more bomb tonnage than any squadron in the whole of RAF Bomber Command – 24,856 tons over 6,262 sorties. It paid a dreadful price, losing 188 aircraft and 1,018 personnel in action, of whom 589 were Australian. In essence 460 Squadron was wiped out five times over in less than three years.

No records of the exact missions that Roby and his crew flew have been identified. They would almost certainly have commenced flying within days of joining the squadron at Binbrook, Lincolnshire. Roby would have had at least one flight as second pilot, most probably a raid over Berlin on 15 February. In the last two weeks of February 1944, 460 Squadron flew missions with almost every available aircraft to Berlin, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt and Augsburg before taking a break from operations when Binbrook became snowbound. Roby’s crew were granted six days’ leave each. In March, he was promoted to warrant officer and recommended for a commission.

460 Squadron recommenced operations on 15 March with a raid on Stuttgart, followed by raids on Frankfurt on the 18th and 22nd. On the second Frankfurt raid 460 Squadron created a Bomber Command record by dropping 131 tons of bombs, the highest any single squadron had ever dropped. The Frankfurt raid was followed by missions to Berlin, Aulnoye, Essen and Nuremberg before the squadron again stood down for ten days. By now, Roby and his crew were old hands whom new pilots looked up to, and they were a third of their way through their tour. With the exception of Aulnoye, the squadron committed at least twenty-four aircraft to each raid. The toll on 460 Squadron was heavy, with thirteen aircraft and their crews lost in just six weeks.

At 2115 on 9 April, Roby and his crew – Sgt Tom Mckinstry (FE),[3] F-O Len Ryan (N),[4] F-Sgt Don Martin (BA),[5] F-Sgt Bill Boyce (WO/AG),[6] Sgt Sid Edwards (mid-up AG)[7] and F-Sgt Ed Oberhardt[8] – took off from RAF Binbrook to lay mines in the Baltic. The object of the mission was to stop seaborne supplies reaching German forces on the Russian front. The mission required the aircraft to fly across the North Sea and Denmark to the dropping zone. Roby and his crew were part of a force of twelve aircraft. They were harassed by German night fighters as they passed over Denmark and were subjected to heavy anti-aircraft fire over the target area.

On their return flight, sometime around 0410, they were intercepted by a night fighter and shot down sixty kilometres north-east of Esbjerg on Denmark’s west coast. Roby Proud and his entire crew were killed. 460 Squadron suffered heavily – they lost four crews. One of them, a crew on its first operation, had crashed on takeoff. Another two crews returned severely damaged.

Roby Proud died having never met his infant daughter and not knowing that his commission had been granted. He was posthumously promoted to pilot officer. On 11 April, RAAF Headquarters and later the families of his crew were advised that the men were missing.

In Denmark, the Germans placed a guard on the crash scene until the bodies and important items of equipment could be removed. The bodies were taken to Esbjerg Cemetery for interment. Five of the seven men were identified at their time of burial. Roby Proud and Tom McKinstry’s bodies were positively identified after the war by the RAF Graves Registration Unit. Back at the crash site, two Danish nationals, Morgan Vandenberg and Kristian Pederson risked reprisals from the Germans to collect evidence that would ensure the aircraft and men could be identified. Among the items they retrieved and hid away were Len Ryan’s goggles and Don Martin’s wristwatch.

Sadly, Lillian became estranged from Roby’s family. She never remarried and raised Diana alone, while working as a clerk. She passed away in November 2010, aged ninety-three.

Pilot Officer Robert John Proud and his crew are buried in the Esbjerg Cemetery, Esbjerg, Jutland, Denmark alongside over two hundred and fifty British and Commonwealth airmen from World War II.

[1] F-Lt Ernest Francis Barrett, 420428; b. Chatswood NSW 23 Dec 1916; d. 2 Oct 1972.
[2] Proud’s service certificate erroneously states that he was posted to No. 430 Squadron, a Canadian single-engine fighter reconnaissance squadron. This error has been repeated in the Department of Veterans’ Affairs WWII nominal roll.
[3] Sgt Thomas McKinstry, 1566471, RAFVR; of Glasgow; KIA 10 Apr 1944, aged 21. McKinstry’s brother, WAG John McKinstry, had been killed in action with No. 172 Squadron the previous year.
[4] F-O Leonard Myles Ryan, 422302; b. Manly NSW 1 Dec 1918; KIA 10 Apr 1944.
[5] F-Sgt Donald Henry Martin, 417503; b. Alberton SA 12 Apr 1922; KIA 10 Apr 1944.
[6] F-Sgt William George Boyce, 421239 of Kandos NSW; b. Rylstone, NSW, 22 Apr 1918; KIA 10 Apr 1944.
[7] Sgt Sidney Edwards, 1257237, RAFVR; KIA 10 Apr 1944, aged 35.
[8] F-Sgt Edgar Oberhardt, 426943; of Bowen Qld; b. Toowoomba, Qld, 18 Sep 1923; KIA 10 Apr 1944.

Primary Source: High in the Sunlit Silence, Tony Vine, Vivid Publishing, 2017