Thomas Albert Bax

Thomas Albert Bax: Mini Biography

Updated 29 September 2026

A number of the Australian prisoners of war were medically repatriated from German POW camps. One was Thomas Albert Bax. As part of my research into the Australians of Stalag Luft III, I compiled a very brief mini-biography. I acknowledge the assistance of Geoff Swallow and his fellow aviation history enthusiasts of the WW2Talk forum, Erika Birmingham, and Mike Vidal in piecing this together. I should note here that my main interest lies in the lives of the Australians in captivity and beyond. Accordingly, I have paid little attention to Tom’s RAF service career.

Thomas Albert Bax was 22 January 1910, Mt Pleasant, South Australia. His father was Albert James Bax. Various references in newspapers indicate that the family lived in Kandina. He attended St Peter's and, when he left school, trained as a woolclasser.

Blond, 1.78 metres (5 foot 8 inches) Bax was athletic. He won the Glenelg Sprint in 1930 (as reported in Advertiser (Adelaide) 24 June 1932). In early 1932 he participated in a number of ‘pedestrian events’ at Payneham Oval, including those listed in 22 March 1932 News (Adelaide), which reported his handicap.  

In June 1932, aged 22, he accompanied former state champion, Malcolm Dunn, on a voyage to England. Dunn anticipated competing in sprint events in England and hoped to be back in Australia by October that year to prepare for the world’s championship. (Advertiser (Adelaide) 24 June 1932). Bax left Australia aboard P&O vessel, Ballarat, working his passage to the UK, arriving on 27 July 1932. It seems he did not return to Australia before the war as he is not included on any shipping entries (via Fremantle records) between 1932 and 1940.

UK marriage records indicate that he married Violette D. Locke  in April-June quarter 1937. Violette was the daughter of Herbert and Eugenie Locke of Fircroft, Crowhurst, Surrey. Sadly, the marriage was short-lived as 23 year old Violette Doris Bax died on 28 May 1937 at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, following an accident. (The Times, 1 June 1937. This notice confirms her husband was Tom Bax of Adelaide.)

Bax’s RAF service number, 78742, was one of a block of RAFVR service numbers issued between 1937 and January 1941. The London Gazette 14 May 1940 recorded his commission ‘for the duration of hostilities' as Acting Pilot Officer on probation WEF 12 April 1940. TLG 2 July 1940 records that Acting Pilot Officer Bax, on probation, was graded as Pilot Officer on probation on 1 June 1940. TLG 25 July 1941 confirmed his appointment WEF 12 April 1941, and promotion to war substantive rank of Flying Officer WEF 1 June 1941. TLG 16 October 1942 recorded his promotion (war substantive) to Flight Lieutenant WEF 1 June 1942.

These later gazettals occurred after his last operation.

At some point he joined 9 Squadron RAF. Sometime in 1940, The Australian Women's Weekly special representative in England interviewed Bax and his Wellington crewmembers. As a rear gunner, he told the correspondent, 'I like to take a shot at the searchlights. I've got a lonely position back here in the tail, where I've only got an altimeter for company, and when I get no chance at Nazi fighters I try to put out the searchlights'. His view of proceedings was only partial. One time 'We dropped a thousand-pound "egg" which gave off a terrific explosion which I had to strain to see'. Conditions 'back here in the tail' were uncomfortable, he explained. 'It gets terribly cold sometimes, and when it's 22 degrees below zero I sometimes wish I were back in Adelaide'. Even so, he got used to the 'freezingly cold', thanks to 'electric wires attached to my hands and feet [which] are plugged in to the current'. On one occasion, he took off his oxygen mask to drink some warming coffee. 'I spilled some and it turned into ice'.

The crew are not named in the AWW pic, but I think Bax is on the right. Australian Women's Weekly, 16 November 1940, p 7. 

On 9 June 1941 he was gunnery leader and air gunner on Wellington serial R1758, piloted by Wing Commander George Claringbould Arnold. Gordon Thorburn, Bombers, First and Last (page 54) indicates that this was a scratch crew and 9 Squadron Wellington was one of four sent to attack enemy shipping off Belgian and Dutch coasts. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/roy-arnold.html indicates Claringbould was on a reconnaissance operation and that the Wellington was downed in the North Sea near Zeebrugge, Belgium.

Arnold was killed and the rest of crew, including Bax, were taken POW. According to an interview with The Argus (Melbourne) Special Correspondent, Godfrey Blunden 18 September 1944, Bax parachuted out of a burning aircraft in Zebrugge Harbour. It seems that he was ‘severely injured’ in the downing. http://www.anzacpow.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/22740/3853_Anzac_European_Freemen_10-4-14.pdf 

Bax’s Red Cross record card reveals that on 13 June 1941 he appeared in RAF casualty lists as missing. His father received a telegram advising his status of POW Germany on 3 July 1941. The POW Information Bureau advised the Red Cross on 19 August 1941 that Bax had been imprisoned at Spangenberg Castle.

On 6 September 1941 advice was received by the Red Cross that Bax was in Oflag IX A/H (H’ being an abbreviation for Hauptlager or main camp). They were then advised on 11 November 1941 that he had been transferred to Oflag VIB, Warburg where he remained for some time. The Red Cross received word on 11 December 1942 that he had been transferred to Oflag XXIB since 4 September 1942, where he remained until he was transferred to Stalag Luft III. The exact date of arrival is not known but the Red Cross received details of transfer on 27 May 1943.

His POW card indicates that at some point he lived in East Compound, Hut 65, Room 8. 

Courtesy of Mike Vidal

I have not found Bax’s name in any of 'my' Australian records except for one letter (mentioned below) and he does not appear in any of the photos held by Australians. The only reference to his life in captivity that I could find is in the aforementioned Argus article where he talked to Blunden about gambling and camp two-up rings. He also noted the importance of Red Cross parcels and how the men could not have existed without them. Apparently, according to Bax, the Reichmark was worth six puffs of an English cigarette. It seems he was addicted because despite any need for food from the Red Cross parcels, for him, the most important items were cigarettes, especially Canadian Sweet Caporals. Addiction aside, cigarettes were currency. According to Bax, they were used to trade for surplus clothes, unwanted food, and other essentials.

On 4 September 1944, the Camp Leader advised the Red Cross that Bax had left SLIII on 26 July 1944 for Stalag IV DZ, where and others severely wounded POWs were sent as they awaited medical repatriation. NOTE: this date might not be correct as one of the Australians in East Compound (where I assumed Bax ‘resided’) noted in a letter home of 24 July that ‘another batch of repats leave this week including three Aussies—Chuck Lark will know them—‘Dusty’ Miller, [George Eric Miller] ‘Hap’ [William Henry] Edwards, and Tom Bax’.

The Red Cross enquired about his state of Bax’s health on 21 September 1944 but received no details, only that he was due to be repatriated.

I have no details as to why he was repatriated but it is likely it was as a consequence of the severe injuries from the downing.

After repatriation, he appeared to remain in the UK (Blunden interviewed him in Liverpool shortly after he arrived) and in the RAF. His appointment was terminated WEF 23 March 1948, and he retained the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He travelled on the Orion to Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 19 April 1948. His address is listed as 29 Yanco Avenue Bronte Sydney.

I don’t have access to electoral rolls and can find little other trace of him during his years in Australia. By 1949, he was working with Cathay Pacific Airways as a Traffic Manager.

Tom Bax, CPA Traffic Manager arrives at Cat-Bi, Haiphong, 1949. Courtesy of Erika Birmingham.

In 1952/53 he married Adarie Hunter in Hong Kong. They had no children. He died of a heart attack, age 65, on 7 May 1975. His death certificate lists his occupation as a taxi driver, and address as 4/58 Dover Road, Rose Bay.