LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Alan Walter HEITMAN
Service No: 409918
Born: Canterbury VIC, 20 February 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941
Unit: No. 128 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 128 Squadron Mosquito aircraft), Cambridgeshire, 15 January 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Ernest and Ada Maude Heitmann, of Burnie, Tasmania, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bendigo VIC
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 15 January 1945, a Mosquito aircraft flown by Flight Lieutenant Heitman made several attempts to land after returning from an operational sortie over Berlin. The weather was too bad on his last attempt when almost out of petrol. The Navigator reported that they hit something when a couple of miles from the aerodrome. They flew on and actually touched down on the aerodrome but the pilot reported on VHF that the throttles had jammed open and he had to take off again. Owing to an extreme shortage of fuel he was instructed to bale out. He then reported he was on fire and the Navigator who successfully baled out from 1,500 feet, but was slightly injured, reported that large yellow flames were coming from the starboard exhaust and it lit up the cockpit. No other flames were visible. As soon as the Navigator baled out the Pilot reported that the aircraft was out of control and the aircraft crashed with the pilot still inside. The Navigator said that the aircraft had behaved without problem throughout the sortie. The aircraft crashed south of Chatteris and the pilot was killed.
The Mosquito crew members were:
Flight Lieutenant Alan Walter Heitman (409918) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer A N Gould (188552) (RAFVR) (Navigator) Baled out, safe
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, 166/17/957