LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Rex FRITH
Service No: 405052
Born: Maryborough QLD, 7 May 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (RAF), RAF Station Ramsbury
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit Oxford aircraft HM907), Wiltshire, 18 September 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter and Ethel Frith, of Innisfail, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Maryborough QLD
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2345 hours on the night of 17 September 1943, Oxford HM907 took off from Ramsbury authorised to do solo night circuits and landings. After three landing and overshoots, the aircraft took off again and gained to height of 3/400 feet, when the aircraft stalled and dived into the ground. It crashed at 0030 hours about two miles from the runway and burst into flames. Flight Sergeant Frith, flying solo, was killed. An Inquiry into the accident considered it resulted from “an error of judgement by the Pilot.”
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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/14/97