LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Alexander Somerville ROULSTON
Service No: 421127
Born: Summer Hill NSW, 2 August 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 587 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 587 Squadron Martinet aircraft EE968), Somerset, 11 May 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Harvey Roulston and Evaline May Roulston; husband of Edith Mary Roulston, of West Ryde, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ryde NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Victory Memorial Gardens Cenotaph, Wagga Wagga NSW
On 11 May 1944, Martinet EE968 took off on a daytime non-operational flight of silent cooperation with an Army Practice Camp. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at 0930m hours at West Quarterhead, Somerset, and the pilot was killed.
A report into the accident stated: “the aircraft was seen by two independent witnesses to circle in the vicinity of a Practice camp occupied by No 206 Regiment at Watchet at 600/700 feet. The aircraft then straightened out and then went into a steep dive, hit the ground and burst into flames. The aircraft was totally burnt out and technical examination of the wreck was impossible. The aircraft had completed one run and was circling over West Quarterhead prior to making another run. Independent witnesses say that the engine stopped, and the aircraft dived, hit the ground and burst into flames. The height at which the aircraft was circling was uncertain but the ground here was about 500 feet higher than the Army camp and the pilot probably did not have adequate height to recover control after the engine stopped. All pilots were instructed to make their run in a direction which does not take them over this high ground behind the Army camp, so that they are over suitable ground for a forced landing in the event of an engine failure.”
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, 166/36/268
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line