LEST WE FORGET
Squadron Leader Ronald James WATT
Service No: 273
Born: Glasgow, Scotland, 16 June 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 January 1938 (at RAAF Station Point Cook VIC)
Unit: No. 3 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 3 Squadron Kittyhawk aircraft FL292), off the Tunisian Coast, 2 January 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John William Watt, M.B.E., and Laura Isabel Watt, of Warragul, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Warragul VIC
Remembered: Column 271, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1520 hours on 2 January 1943, ten No. 3 Squadron Kittyhawks took off to attack 2 ships north of Ben Gardane. Through heavy rain squalls six to eight enemy aircraft were seen 4 miles east of Zuara down on the water. They made a wide climbing sweep and hid in the clouds. Flight Lieutenant Garth Edward Somerville Clabburn (205745) (Discharged: 18 December 1945) detached blue section to go down and investigate, when the leader gave the order to jettison bombs, the bottom section also engaged the enemy aircraft. Flight Lieutenant Clabburn and Pilot Officer Andrew Walter John Taylor (404188) (Discharged: 29 January 1946) fired at the 109s and Flying Officer Robert Clive Dent (412118) (Discharged: 28 September 1945) saw a 109 heading west with the left aileron damaged and radio aerial trailing. Squadron Leader Watt in FL292 was shot down, probably by Oberleutnant Siegftied Freytag of ll/JG77 or Hauptmann Kurt Ubben of lll/JG77.
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, 166/43/42