LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Edward Dalkeith EDDISON
Service No: 563
Born: Southampton, England, 6 April 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 September 1939 (at RAAF Station Point Cook VIC)
Unit: No. 30 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 30 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-24), Lae, PNG, 27 May 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Herbert and Marion Louisa Eddison, of Canberra
Roll of Honour: Canberra ACT
Remembered: Panel 6, Lae Memorial PNG
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Squadron Frank Leslie Herbert Eddison DFC (39377) (RAF) and Private Jack Osbaldeston Eddison (NX60320) (2/20th Battalion) (Australian Army)
On 27 May 1943, Three days later the Beaufighters accompanied by American Mitchell and Liberator bombers attacked Lae Airfield and Jacobsen’s Plantation where they were met by the Japanese with intense anti-aircraft fire from medium and light-calibre weapons. Eddison’s aircraft was leading the Beaufighters across the airfield when it was hit and crashed in flames at the north-east end, killing Eddison and his navigator, Sergeant Allott. The enemy anti-aircraft barrage on that day was the most intense experienced for some time.
Extract from Odgers, G.J. (George James) (VX127783) Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957 – Page 27
The crew members of A19-24 were:
Sergeant Robert Maxwell Allott (11321) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Edward Dalkeith Eddison (563) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/11/45
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990