LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Frederick DAVIS
Service No: 427447
Born: Cottesloe WA, 4 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 July 1942
Unit: No. 148 Squadron (RAF), Brindisi, Italy
Died: Air Operations: (No. 148 Squadron Halifax aircraft LL484), Mediterranean, 26 December 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Bari War Cemetery, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Jack and Gertrude Davis, of Mosman Park, Western Australia. B.Eng.
Roll of Honour: Mosman Park WA
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Halifax LL484 took off at 1135 hours on 26 December 1944, detailed to carry out a daytime supply drop mission on Gelsha, Northern Yugoslavia. During the mission there was a lubrication failure on the port outer engine. The Pilot feathered the engine but was unable to maintain height on the other engines and carried out a forced landing at 1650 hours one mile north of San Vito, Italy. In the forced landing, Flight Sergeant Davis was very badly injured and died in No 1 Mobile Hospital (Mediterranean Area) very shortly afterwards. The remainder of the crew were uninjured.
The crew members of LL484 were:
Sergeant E J Bethel (654198) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Davis (427447) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Donald Harvey Solin (427265) (Pilot) Discharged from the RAAF: 1 February 1946
Flight Sergeant James Keith Ferguson (427860) (Air Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 26 February 1946
Warrant Officer Rodney Harrison (427470) (Wireless Operator) Discharged from the RAAF: 8 January 1946
Flight Sergeant Ernest Winston Morgan (422231) (Bomb Aimer) Discharged from the RAAF: 21 December 1945
Flying Officer Keith Douglas Skerman (425980) (Wireless Operator) Discharged from the RAAF: 4 February 1946
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/9/484