LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant George ARMITT
Service No: 421699
Born: Marrickville NSW, 7 May 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dunholme Lodge
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5729), Germany, 14 January 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frances Ann Armitt, of Mullumbimby, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mullumbimby NSW
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1643 hours on the night of 14 January 1944 Lancaster R5729 took off from Dunholme Lodge to bomb Brunswick, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 2000 hours near the small town of Gieboldehausen, which is 21 kms east north east of Gottingen, Germany. All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of R5729 were:
Flight Sergeant George Armitt (421699) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Louis Curatolo (J/19632) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Peter Rees Hughes (1317701) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant David Sinclair Mullin (R/126356) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Sydney Harold Weldon (1819970) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Whiteley (1380098) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant George Henry Williams (1810983) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/4/90