On this day, thanks to RAAF Air Power Development Centre: 28th March 1943 Football legend killed in flying accident On this day Squadron Leader Keith (‘Bluey’) Truscott, Commanding Officer of No 76 Squadron, was killed in an aircraft accident while on a training flight over Exmouth Gulf, WA. Truscott’s popularity as a player in the Melbourne football team had attracted great publicity when he enlisted in 1940, and ensured that the RAAF persevered with training him when he proved not to be a natural pilot. Serving with No 452 Squadron in England, however, he demonstrated prowess in air combat and quickly qualified as an ace, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and Bar. Returning to Australia in 1942, he joined 76 Squadron equipped with Kittyhawks and went to New Guinea, where he took command. After serving at Milne Bay and Darwin, his unit was transferred to a quieter area in WA. He was making a mock attack on a low-flying Catalina when he misjudged his height and crashed into the sea. 28th March 1944 Aboriginal pilot won DFC On this day, the award was announced of the Distinguished Flying Cross to Pilot Officer David Paul, an indigenous Australian pilot who had been serving in North Africa with No 454 Squadron (an RAAF Baltimore unit in the RAF). At the time of the announcement Paul was a prisoner of war in Germany, having been shot down by Me-109F fighters over the Aegean Sea on 4 December 1943 while making the final trip of his operational tour. Surviving the crash, he was plucked from the sea and became a prisoner of the Germans. He had enlisted in the RAAF in January 1941 and trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme in Rhodesia. After his release from Stalag IVB POW camp at Muhlberg in 1945, he returned to Australia and joined the New South Wales Police Force, becoming a detective sergeant. He also served in the RAAF Reserve and reached the rank of Squadron Leader.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 00:28:21 +0000
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