Flight Lieutenant Robert James FRASER

459 RAAF Squadron

Service No. 401031

Date of Birth: 1 Apr 1916

Place of Birth: STAWELL, VIC

Date of Enlistment: 8 Dec 1940

Date of Discharge: 22 Sep 1945

Rank: Flight Lieutenant

Date of Death: 05 Dec 2001

​

<<<<< >>>>>

Crew:

• Blake DFC (Dick) C(RAF) Pilot

• Nicholson (Nick) (RAF) Navigator (B)

• Fraser R J (Bob) (RAAF) WAG

• Latta (Andy) (RAAF) WAG

​

Born in 1916 during WW1, in which his father was killed, Bob Fraser spent his youth in Victoria, qualifying with A Dip. In  Agriculture at Dookie Ag. College. Having enlisted early in the  RAAF , he trained in Aust. As a Wireless Operator Air Gunner with (a) No.9 Course at Ballarat and Pt. Pirie, then proceeded to the UK via Canada and the Atlantic.  He completed a Radar Course at Preswick ( Scotland) and crewed up during a Hudson Operational  Training Unit Course at Silloth.  As was the practise before closure of the  regular 459  Hudson Squadrons reinforcement route his crew flew from  Portreath (England) via Gibraltar and Malta to Egypt with its operational crew, delivering their Hudson to help build up full strength.

 

Bob flew 353  operational hours in  459, Hudsons and is recalled by Squadron friends like Ross Rasheed (see photos of Squadron days at the desert base, or on leave in Cairo or  Tel Aviv) as a reliable mate.