LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Russell McDONELL
Service No: 401135
Born: Elsternwick VIC, 17 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 January 1941
Unit: No. 457 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 457 Squadron Spitfire aircraft BL591), off the Isle of Man, 8 March 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Andreas (St Andrew) Churchyard, Isle of Man UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Hilda McDonell, of Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Elsternwick VIC
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
During a non-operational practice flight on 8 March 1942, Spitfire BL591 flown by Sergeant McDonnell crashed in the sea off Ramsey, Isle of Man, at 1545 hours and he was killed. A Court of Inquiry into the accident found that “the evidence is in keeping with a structural failure having occurred – it is equally in keeping with an overstrain on the structure owing to the pilot pulling out too sharply.”
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, 163/141/490