LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer John McPherson PITT

Service No: 401830
Born: Melbourne VIC, 7 January 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 March 1941
Unit: No. 24 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 24 Squadron liberator aircraft A72-88), near Fenton NT, 3 February 1945, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Norman George and Marion Law Pitt; husband of Joan Finlay Pitt, of Brighton, Victoria.
Roll of Honour: Brighton VIC
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2355 hours on 2 February 1945, Liberator A72-38 on return from an attack on Japanese shipping crashed about two miles from the Fenton airstrip when it forced landed due to lack of fuel. Following the landing, the aircraft caught fire in the nose area under the flight deck, likely from the disintegration of the auxiliary power unit, and the two crew members who were killed in the crash had been stationed under the flight deck.

The crew members of A72-88 were:

Flying Officer Arthur Aram Cambridge (406750) (Pilot) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 March 1946
Flying Officer Ivan Fernely Coward (416415) (Navigator Bomb Aimer) Slightly Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 13 February 1946
Sergeant Allen George Cullen (19835) (Flight Engineer) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 July 1945
Warrant Officer Frederick Crawford (425611) (A11367) (Second Pilot) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 2 July 1965
Sergeant Ernest Lancelot Francis (442341) (Air Gunner) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 24 March 1947
Sergeant Ernest William Jennings (443957) (Air Gunner) Dangerously, Injured Discharged from the RAAF: 26 October 1945
Pilot Officer Geoffrey Neil Johnson (416767) (Wireless Operator Air) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 9 October 1945
Flight Lieutenant John Richard Parkinson (411371) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer John McPherson Pitt (401830) (Wireless Operator Air)
Pilot Officer Geoffrey Wallace Rhodes (413253) (Wireless Operator Air) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 27 February 1946
Flight Lieutenant Victor Charles Edward Scanlon (416131) (Wireless Operator Air) Dangerously Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 29 January 1946

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/32/642, A9845, 71

Bibliography:

Nelmes, M.V. (Michael) Tocumwal to Tarakan: Australians and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Banner Books Belconnen ACT 2616, 1994
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Boston, Mitchell and Liberator in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992

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