Catalogue
Catalogue
Object Type
Name/Title
Papers relating to war service of NZ429072 Flight Sergeant Robert Bailey, 75 Squadron, RNZAF
Primary Maker
Date
1942-1994
Physical Description
Language
Danish
Level of Current Record
Parent
Member Object
Public Access Text
This collection is also available as a series of thirty-nine (39) digitised images (TIFF and JPEG). [Note: Image quality is not suitable for publication]
See also Cenotaph database records for NZ429072 Robert Bailey, NZ429046 Douglas William Vaughan, and NZ421728 Manson Lammas.
Subject Notes
Robert Bailey was born on 11 September 1923, at Auckland, New Zealand. He was educated at Albany Primary, Northcote District High and Melbourne High Schools. After finishing school he became an apprentice lithographer with the New Zealand Herald. He joined the Air Force in August, 1942, and after his initial training in New Zealand he went to Canada, where he trained as an air bomber and gained promotion to Flight Sergeant. In March, 1944, he joined 75 (NZ) Squadron, at Mepal, Cambridgshire, England, and began taking part in air operations over Europe. Bailey and his entire crew, which included fellow New Zealanders, Manson Lammas (pilot) and Douglas William Vaughan (navigator), were killed when their Stirling bomber was shot down by German night fighters over Denmark on 23 April 1944. In April, 1994, the people of Taasinge unveiled a 50th Anniversary Memorial Stone at Vemmenaes, near where the Stirling bomber crashed, to commemorate the seven airmen killed.
Credit Line
Donated by Andrew Robert ('Rob') Bailey (cousin) in 2005.
Last Update
07 Jul 2023
The development of the Auckland War Memorial Museum online collection is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.