LEST WE FORGET

Warrant Officer Peter Victor WADDELL

Service No: 401163
Born: Melbourne VIC, 1 June 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 January 1941
Unit: No. 249 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 249 Squadron Spitfire aircraft JK596), Albania, 30 March 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Tirana Park Memorial Cemetery, Albania
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Henry and Margaret Elizabeth Waddell, of Balwyn, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Camberwell VIC
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1155 hours on 30 March 1944, Spitfire JK596 flown by Warrant Officer Waddell took off with a Section of No. 242 Squadron aircraft to cooperate with Cant aircraft over the Durazzo area. Warrant Officer Waddell was seen going down to investigate a fluorescent patch near the shore when his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Waddell called up and said “they have got me” and the aircraft dived into high ground on the shore and he was killed.

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, 166/43/588

Bibliography:

Winter, V.A. (Vincent Adams) (408547) Noble Six Hundred: the story of the Empire Air Training Scheme with special reference to Australians who trained in Southern Rhodesia, V.A. Winter Brighton VIC 3186, 1982

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