LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Linton Patrick SANDERSON
Service No: 414164
Born: Innisfail QLD, 10 March 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941
Unit: No. 70 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 70 Squadron Wellington aircraft HZ182), Italy, 25 November 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Stagliano Cemetery, Genoa, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Horace Linton Sanderson and Mary Sanderson, of Atherton, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2019 hours on the night of 24 November 1943Wellington HZ182 took off from Djederda landing ground detailed to attack the ball bearing plant at Turin, Italy. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A 1947 report by a Missing Research and Enquiry team stated “a District Priest at Artana, Italy, stated that several planes flew low over the village about 2300 hours. There was an explosion on a mountain top and a huge ball of fire. The next day villagers found the wrecks of two aircraft on either side of the mountain. All the crew members were killed.”
The crew members of HZ182 were:
Flight Sergeant Cyril Baynton (1168793) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant James Green (1497992) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Linton Patrick Sanderson (414164) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Williamson (1093296) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Gordon Herbert Edmund Willmott (1127139) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
The crew members of the second No. 70 Squadron aircraft were:
Sergeant Dudley George Gordon Buckle (1810316) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Clifford Arthur James (1417380) (Navigator)
Sergeant Reginald William Longley (1202743) (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Gordon William Marshall (135651) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Brian Hugh Papworth (1335836) (Pilot)
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, 166/37/135