LEST WE FORGET
Second Lieutenant Roland Frank Charles MACHIN
Service No: 6303
Born: Melbourne VIC, August 1896
Enlisted in the Army: 16 June 1916
Unit: No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Air Operations, France, 18 September 1918, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Brie British Cemetery, Picardie, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas E. and Charlotte Machin, of Queenstown, Tasmania. Native of Melbourne
Place of Association: Queenstown TAS
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Rain fell again with the opening of the attack by the 4th and 1st Australian Divisions on September 18th. The attack began at 5.20 a.m. but with the bad weather no air work was possible before 8 o’clock. Then six machines dropped smokebombs about the top of the ridge to reinforce the effect of the mist. About 10 a,m., when weather and visibility had improved, Lieutenants Dimsey (1) and R. F. C. Machin (Observer) (2) located without difficulty the attacking line near the top of the ridge; but Machin was shot in the back by ground machine-gun fire while on this duty, and died instantly.
(1) Lieutenant David Frederick Dimsey DFC; Born Dimboola VIC, 4 July 1891
(2) RE8 aircraft C2490
Extract from Cutlack, F.M. (Frederic Morley) The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War 1914-8, Angus and Robertson Ltd Sydney, 1941 – Page 327
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, MACHIN R F C
National Archives UK RAF Casualty Book AIR 1/969 page 233, 177053
Bibliography:
Muller, P. (Peter) and Hutchinson, J. (John) Secrets Revealed: a brief history of No. 3 Squadron RAAF, Lutheran Publishing House Adelaide SA 5000, 1991
Wrigley, H.N. (Henry Neilsen) (6) The Battle Below: Being the history of No. 3 Squadron AFC, Errol G. Knox Sydney NSW, 1935