LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Leonard Graham FULLER DFM
Service No: 402052
Born: Cootamundra NSW, 9 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 April 1940
Unit: No. 1 Operational Training Unit
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM), 14 March 1942
Died: Ground Accident, near East Sale, 18 March 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Sale War Cemetery VIC
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Edward and Daisy Sapphire May Fuller; husband of Thelma I. E. Fuller, of Bondi, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gundagai War Memorial, Gundagai NSW
Remembered: Moree War Memorial Hall World War Two Honour Rolls, Moree NSW
DFM Citation (Sergeant L G Fuller attached to No 37 Squadron RAF, Middle East, was granted an immediate DFM on 14 March 1942): “In March he captained an aircraft which participated in an attack on Palermo, Sicily, when two enemy vessels of 6,000 tons were sunk and another severely damaged along with much destruction of harbour installations. Having set one enemy vessel on fire, he flew back to base for re-fuelling and re-arming. He then returned and after making a second attack on ships, remained in the area for some time thus preventing fire parties from working.”
Flying Officer Fuller was known as Pick-a-Back Fuller after landing two No. 2 Service Flying Training School Anson aircraft (L9162 and N4876) near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, on 29 September 1940. The aircraft had collided in mid-air and were locked together.
The crew members of N4876 were:
Leading Aircraftman Leonard Graham Fuller (402050) (Trainee Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Ian Menzies Sinclair (402066) (Trainee Pilot) Baled out, safe, Discharged from the RAAF: 22 March 1945
The crew members of L9162 were:
Leading Aircraftman Hugh Gavin Fraser (402051) (Trainee Pilot) Baled out, safe, Killed in an Aircraft Accident: 1 February 1942
Leading Aircraftman Jack Inglis Hewson (402056) (Trainee Pilot) Baled out, safe, Discharged from the RAAF: 4 March 1946
On 18 March 1944, Flying Officer Fuller, a Pilot, was killed when the bicycle he was riding collided with a motor bus in Heart Road about 500 yards from the Main Gate at RAAF Station East Sale.
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, 166/14/171; A9845, 100
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002