LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Colin Campbell SCOTT
Service No: 400988
Born: North Carlton VIC, 1 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1940
Unit: No. 19 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Kinloss
Died: Aircraft accident (No. 19 Operational Training Unit Whitley aircraft N1437), near Kinloss, 24 March 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Kinloss Abbey Burial Ground, Moray, Scotland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Alan Leslie Scott and Violet Emily Scott, of Elwood, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0125 hours on 24 March 1942 Whitley N1437 took off from Kinloss for night flying training. An engine failed and the aircraft smashed into trees near No 1 site. A fire broke out and Sergeant Scott perished before he could be dragged clear.
The crew members of N1437 were:
Flight Lieutenant G C Davies DSO (87415) (RAFVR) (Pilot) (Instructor Pilot) Injured
Sergeant Walter William Harris (403188) (Wireless Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 29 October 1945
Pilot Officer Kenneth Munro DFC & Bar (408168) (Pilot under instruction) Injured, Killed in an Aircraft Accident: 1 July 1943
Sergeant Colin Campbell Scott (400988) (Pilot under instruction)
In a letter to Sergeant Scott’s parents, the Group Captain Commanding RAF Kinloss wrote: “Sergeant Scott was being given dual instruction at night having been converted to Whitley aircraft by day, and he had been flying for sometime on the night in question with his Instructor. At the time of the accident Scott was in the left hand seat of the aircraft at the controls and the Instructor in the right hand seat at the dual controls. As they were taking while practising take off and landings, the port engine failed suddenly just as the aircraft was airborne and when the undercarriage was still down. The Instructor Pilot immediately took over the controls but under the circumstances was unable to maintain height or direction, and the aircraft losing height and turning to the left it crashed into a wood at the edge of the aerodrome. The aircraft was completely demolished and the petrol tanks caught fire. The engine was inspected and the cause of the failure was found to be an Inlet Valve, a chip about the size of a small finger nail having broken off for reasons unknown.”
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, 163/160/187