LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Francis Peter RATTIGAN
Service No: 433339
Born: Adelaide SA, 16 December 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 March 1943 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit, RAAF Station Williamtown NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Mosquito aircraft A52-40), near Williamtown, 16 November 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dennis and Olive Rattigan, of South Plympton, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 5, Sydney Memorial, Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On the afternoon of 16 November 1944, Mosquito A52-40 failed to return from a cross country operational training flight. The aircraft is believed to have been lost in the vicinity of Cabbage Tree Island. The crew members were:
Pilot Officer Peter Thomas Curtis (422444) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Francis Peter Rattigan (433339) (Navigator)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 151
Bibliography:
Vincent, D. (David) Mosquito Monograph: A history of Mosquitoes in Australia and RAAF operations, David Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1982
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990