Adam Cubie Brand was born on 18 March 1909 and was married to his wife Daisy Anne Brand (b.18 February 1914).
U.K. Postal Appointment Books lists him twice as a sorter in the London Postal Service, in November 1935 and again on 9 December 1936. In the 1939 England and Wales Register he is shown as a G.P.O. sorter living with his wife at 24 Manningtree Road, Ruislip, Middlesex.
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 1353125, and was attached to No.467 (R.A.A.F) Squadron. Aged 34 years, he was the mid-upper gunner on a Avro Lancaster MkIII aeroplane, serial number LM342, that took off at 21.45 hours on 17 August 1943 from RAF Bottesford, Lincolnshire, as part of Operation Hydra, a bombing raid on the Peenemünde Experimental Station, Germany. His aeroplane crashed in the Baltic Sea whilst approaching the target killing all eight airmen aboard. His was the only body recovered and was initially buried in Swinemuende, Germany, (now Świnoujście, Poland), but on 8 October 1948 he was exhumed and reburied in Plot 5, Row D, Grave 8, in the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery, Citadel Park, Aleja Armii Poznan, 61-001 Poznań, Wielkopolskie, Poland.
He is also commemorated on Panel 12 of the International Bomber Command Memorial, Canwick Avenue, Canwick, Lincoln, LN4 2HQ, on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Royal Air Force Commands website and on Page 33 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1939-1949.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
