LEST WE FORGET

Wing Commander Alister William Stewart MATHESON

From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force

Service No: 29258 (RAF)
Born: Winchelsea VIC, 7 October 1909
Enlisted in the RAF: 1931
Unit: No. 1485 Bombing (Gunnery) Flight, RAF Station Fulbeck, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1485 Flight Wellington aircraft BK235), near Appleby, Lincolnshire, 18 July 1943, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Brigg Cemetery, Lincolnshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Katherine Matheson; husband of Nancy Elaine Matheson, of Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel Supplementary 12, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Wing Commander Mathieson was an Australian Cadet trained for the RAF who embarked for the UK on 27 January 1931.

On 18 July 1943, Wellington BK235 took off from Fulbeck with two crew members and four members from the Senior Officers Assessment Course for a gunnery and fighter affiliation demonstration. During the flight structural failure of the mainplane occurred and BK235 crashed at 1625 hours four miles north east of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and all six on board were killed.

On board BK235 were:

Squadron Leader Philip Brandon-Trye (42792) (RAF) (Pilot, Supernumerary)
Flight Sergeant Daniel Breslin DFM (1561437) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer John William Heard (1169045) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Group Captain Brian Everard Lowe (RAF) (Supernumerary)
Wing Commander Alister William Stewart Matheson (29258) (RAF) (Pilot, Supernumerary)
Group Captain Reginald Vere Massey Odbert (RAF) (Supernumerary)

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 8 Heavy Conversion Units and Miscellaneous Units 1939-1947, Midland Counties Publications UK, 2003
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9300, MATHESON A W S
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990

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