Pilot Officer Robert Vincent Brossmer was born in March 1915 in The Bronx, New York City, USA, the son of Mr & Mrs Frank J. Brossmer. He was educated at Riverdale Country School in New York and at Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, Madison County, New York. He was an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 233, Bronx Council, Boy Scouts of America.
He was a service pilot in training at the Spartan Aviation College in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, when in 1940 he travelled to Canada to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, service number 106352. He came to England and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer, assigned to No.133 Squadron from 28 October 1941 to 1 December 1941, based at RAF Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire, flying Hawker Hurricane aeroplanes. Attending No.52 Operational Training Unit at RAF Duxford for conversion to flying Supermarine Spitfires he was transferred to No.122 Squadron in late March 1942 at RAF North Weald.
He was last seen, aged 27 years, on 4 May 1942 when his Spitfire Mark Vb, Serial Number AD 460, was shot down by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 off the French coast when escorting Boston aeroplanes in a bombing raid on Le Havre Power Station in the same action where Pilot Officer Ralph William Freiberg was also killed.
As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Panel 68 of the Air Forces Memorial at Coppers Hill Lane, Englefield Green, Runnymede, TW20 0LB. His Eagle Squadron uniform and his Boy Scout uniform are preserved in a private museum on Long Island, New York.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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