LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Frederick Britain BORRETT
Service No: 402104
Born: Bunbury WA, 16 November 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 May 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: Delivery Flight 474, RAF Station Takoradi, Ghana
Died: Aircraft Accident (Blenheim aircraft BA597), Nigeria, 19 August 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Oshogbo Cemetery, Nigeria
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry Britain Borrett and Emily Eliza Borrett, of Mount Lawley, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Sergeant Arnold Harvey Borrett (406769)
Flight Sergeant Borrett was injured in the crash of No. 11 Squadron (RAF) Blenheim aircraft V5899 in Egypt on 25 January 1942 in which Flight Sergeant Jack Richmond DFM (550946) (RAF) (Observer) was killed and Sergeant Hugh Lister Mackey (400180) (Wireless Air Gunner, Discharged: 30 November 1945) was injured.
On 19 August 1942, Blenheim BA597 took off from Lagos as one of a formation of aircraft on delivery flight No 474. The Leader of the formation noticed that a line squall was running roughly from a northwest direction to the south east and moving westward. When approaching Oshogbo, the Leader decided to return to Lagos and signalled the necessary instructions. All the other aircraft responded except BA597, which headed straight for the squall and disappeared in the cloud. The wreck and the remains of the crew were later discovered seven miles north of Ogbodisho. It was considered that the cause of the accident was loss of control of the aircraft in cloud.
The crew members of BA597 were:
Flight Sergeant Frederick Britain Borrett (402104) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Bowditch (403253) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Fordell Henderson (405192) (Observer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
Gunby D (David) and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1 1939-1942, Midland Publishing UK, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/93/629