Augustine Brannigan had trained at 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit and already been involved in one flying accident when, on 31st October 1942 he was a pilot of Halifax R9433 undertaking a training flight when it crashed near Welburn, between York and Malton and he sustained injuries. He recovered from these injuries and completed his training to be posted to 77 Squadron in Spring 1943. Following the incident to Halifax BB380 at Elvington he was soon back in the air and flying operationally. He was flying Halifax JB851 on Ops on 25th/26th May 1943 when the aircraft was slightly damaged by flak. He later received his commission on 27th August 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency). He was sadly killed on 28th August 1943 flying Halifax JD371 on Ops to Nuremburg. His aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed in Belgium with five of his then crew killed, three were able to evade capture and return to the UK. P/O Brannigan was twenty nine years old and is buried in Heverlee War Cemetery, Belgium. I thank his nephew for contacting me in April 2011 and to Ade Harris for the photograph of his gravestone. A memorial service took place on 28th August 2013 with members of his family in attendance and the organisers also run the superb "http://www.rememberjd371.be" website who kindly credit me with putting the family and the Belgians in contact.