LEST WE FORGET
Major Ivor Kingsley WHITTAKER
Service No: VX24 (Australian Army)
Born: Melbourne VIC, 14 August 1910
Enlisted in the Army: 19 October 1939
Unit: Headquarters No. 1 Australian Corps
Died: Air Operations: (No. 55 Squadron (RAF) Blenheim aircraft Z9588), Eastern Mediterranean, 12 September 1941, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Charles and Muriel Ada Matilda Whittaker, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hawthorn VIC
Remembered: Column 93, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 11, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Blenheim Z9588 took off from Aqir at 0315 hours on an anti-submarine sweep from Beirut to 13 km east of the Suez Canal. A message was received at 0515 hours that the aircraft was on its return journey and then nothing further was heard.
The crew members of Z9588 were:
Flying Officer James Dodds (402014) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant James William Lucas (751653) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Wing Commander Russell Darby Welland MID (37308) (RAF) (Pilot)
Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker (VX24) (HQ 1 Australian Corps) (Australian Army)
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: No Record
Gunby, David and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1: 1939-1942, Midland Publishing Hinckley UK, 2006
Bibliography:
Baker, N. (Nicola) More Than Little Heroes: Australian Army Air Liaison Officers in WWII, Australian National University Canberra ACT 2600, 1994