LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer George Hector BURKETT
Service No: 406230
Born: Coolgardie WA, 29 November 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 October 1940
Unit: No. 459 Squadron, Burg-El-Arab, Egypt
Died: Air Operations: (No.459 Squadron Hudson aircraft V9172), Mediterranean Sea, 16 August 1942, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Jean Burkett, of Nedlands, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Column 263, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Accordingly on 2nd August four Hudsons were sent out singly each carrying ten 100-lb bombs instead of depth-charges. Three saw no targets but at 6 am Flying Officer Ian Frederick D’arcy Rose (O373) (269) (formerly of No. 450 Squadron) scored three direct hits and sank an F-boat on which he dived without warning. F-boats were Marinefahrprahme (meaning naval stores ferries), a term abbreviated by the Germans to MFP. These craft were of welded steel construction, displaced 240 tons, were powered by two or three diesel motors and measured around 164 feet long with a beam of about twenty-two feet. With minor modifications this method was used in all subsequent attacks, the Hudsons taking off by night with sufficient time to search by radar, locate a target before dawn and attack from the dark side in the first few minutes of half light preceding the dawn. In eighty-five sorties between 1st and 17th August Hudsons of No. 459 sank twelve of the sixteen F-boats destroyed before the Germans were forced to withdraw them from the Matruh route. Four more Hudsons were lost during these low-level attacks.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 255-6
No. 459 Squadron Hudson V9172 was lost during an F-boat search on 16 August 1942. The crew members were:
Flying Officer George Hector Burkett (406230) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Murray Edward Greer (R/84546) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant George Robert Knapp (403093) (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Kenneth Terry (406414) (Pilot)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9816, 145 (No. 459 Squadron Unit History)
Bibliography:
Kane-Maguire L. (Leon) Desert Scorpions: 459 Squadron RAAF 1942-1945, Australian Military History Publications Loftus NSW 2232, 2007
Vincent, D. (David) The RAAF Hudson Story Book 1, D. Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1989