No. 2 Bombing & Gunnery School, Mossbank

No part of this material (unless credited to another source) may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author. Excerpts on this site are from the books, Immigrants of War - American Volunteers With the RAF and RCAF During World War II and Before the Battle - Life on a RCAF Station During World War II.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Mossbank, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1942. William Bernard ("Bill") Kaus standing on the tarmac beside the Bristol Blenheim aircraft in which he completed advanced flying training as a wireless air gunner. Kaus, a member of the RAAF, was undergoing training under the Empire Air Training scheme. (AWM)

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Staff Pilots

Thomas Earl Hemminger, Clovel Fay Lawson, Roland Odell Lindsay, Paul Morrow Hale, Charles Milton Haggest, Bernard Joseph Malloy, John Lewis Fields, Geoffrey Winslow Hess, Louis William Kundrath, Vernon Martin Kummell, Harold H. Hessenflow, D.A. Hall, (R59124) R.S. Cox, Kenneth Walter Tyler; R.J. DeBeaupre, E.C. Williams, K.F. Gray, A.H. Parrish, John Eugene M. Cosco, Hagest, Norman Robinson, J.R. Bryan, Theron Elwin Daniels, B.J. Malloy, Gerald Dean Miller, +James William Hermiston, F.J. Buck, J.A. English, F/L Ernest Orchard Winchester Hall; (R56907) Orr

C-12331 pg. 1218

May 12 - June 22, 1941

Embarked at Sydney January 23, 1941 (5th Draft). Disembarked Vancouver, Canada February 16, 1941. Group portrait of ten RAAF graduates of an air observer's school (AOS), taken just after the "wings" parade, standing in front of a building at RCAF Station Mossbank, Saskatchewan. Rear from left, standing: "Snow" Pearson; possibly 14539 Sergeant (Sgt) Albert Richard Lewis; 402250 Sgt Sydney George Renneberg; Dan O'Shea; 400393 Sgt (later Flying Officer) Eliot Ralph Barnfather (lost on operations over Denmark, 18 May 1942); 400611 Sgt (later Warrant Officer) Clive Alfred Woods (lost on operations in the Middle East, 23 September 1942). Kneeling: 402648 Sgt (later Flying Officer) Norman Falkner Dwyer (lost on operations over the Celebes, 1 October 1943; "Judge" Rutherford; 404174 Sgt (later Flying Officer) Leslie Clement Dorward (lost on operations over Germany, 5 October 1942); 400294 Sgt George Henry Shannon.

June 22, 1941

Group portrait of five recent RAAF graduates of an Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) air observer's school (AOS), standing in front of a Fairey Battle light bomber at RCAF Station Mossbank, Saskatchewan. From left: 400393 Sergeant (Sgt) (later Flying Officer) Eliot Ralph Barnfather (lost on operations over Denmark, 18 May 1942); 400294 Sgt George Henry Shannon (lost on operations over the Netherlands on 2 October 1942) ; 404322 Sgt William Samuel Charles Atherton (lost on operations over Gibraltar, 9 January 1942); Gus Robertson; 402648 Sgt (later Flying Officer) Norman Falkner Dwyer (lost on operations over the Celebes, 1 October 1943). (AWM)

June 22, 1941

400393 Sergeant (Sgt) Eliot Ralph Barnfather RAAF, having just completed gunnery practise in a Fairey Battle light bomber against a drogue target, at No 2 Bombing and Gunnery School, Mossbank, Saskatchewan, Canada. A barrister and solicitor from Geelong, Victoria, prior to enlistment, Sgt Barnfather trained initially at No 8 Elementary Flying Training School (8 EFTS), Narrandera before being shipped to Canada to continue his training under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). He received his 'wing' as an air observer on 22 June 1941. Commissioned after his training, Flying Officer (FO) Barnfather was a crew member of 218 Squadron RAF Stirling bomber N6071, radio call sign HA-G, which was shot down near Lyne, Denmark, on 18 May 1942. He was fatally wounded after parachuting from the aircraft. He was 27 years of age. (AWM)