LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Alan Rupert BASTER
Service No: 400035
Born: Melbourne VIC, 29 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 April 1940
Unit: No. 3 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 3 Squadron Kittyhawk aircraft AK656), Libya, 8 January 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles William and Violet Adele Baster; husband of Lesley Victoria Baster, of Box Hill, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Box Hill VIC
Remembered: Column 263, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 4 April 1941, Flying Officer Baster was involved in an aircraft accident in which Corporal William Barry Ramsay (207668) was killed.
On the morning of the 8 January 1942, Flying Officer Baster flying Kittyhawk AK656 was a member of a Squadron sweep over the Agedabia -El Aghele area, Libya. The formation ran into an enemy formation consisting of20 Macchis, 15CR 42s, G50s and 8 or 9 MeI09s Es and Fs. A series of dogfights followed and during the engagement seven enemy aircraft were shot down with four probables and five damaged. Flying Officer Baster in AK656 failed to return. Major R R McGregor of 55FMC NZAF later reported having buried Flying Officer Baster at a point on a bearing of 60 degrees from the road, and 5.2 miles from Agedabia on the EI Hasciet road. In 1946 it was recorded that Flying Officer Baster’s grave could not be located and was considered lost in a minefield.
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, 163//23/100
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line