Flight Sergeant Thomas Geoffrey Notcutt Russell was killed in a special air operation over the Tyrrhenian Sea (north of Sicily, off the west coast of Italy) on 9th May, 1943.

He was the son of Robert & Hazel (née Notcutt) and attended Carey from 1927-29 before moving to Geelong Grammar.

On leaving school he studied Engineering before entering the RAAF in November, 1940. After Initial Training at Somers, he was posted to Rhodesia and gained his ‘Wings’ at 21 SFTS Kumalo.

Operational training followed at 70 Operational Training Unit, Kenya before he was posted to 14 Squadron (RAF), flying Marauders in the Middle East, in May, 1942. In July he and his (2) crew were posted ‘Missing’ but all walked home from a desert crash. This entitled them to the (totally unofficial) ‘Order of the Flying Boot’!

By May, 1943 the squadron was based at Blida, Algeria with units at Gambut, Bone and Kasfareet as part of the RAF North-West African Air Forces.

On 9 May he and his crew of five, were again posted missing, flying a Marauder Mk.1, FK155, ‘Killed in Air Operations’, on a special mission over the Tyrrhenian Sea. Their bodies were never found.

The squadron’s task at that time was low-level coastal reconnaissance, entailing a high risk of enemy opposition, from both ground and air.

It is not known if he is commemorated on or by any Australian War Memorial.