LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John Maxwell CURTIS
Service No: 410218
Born: Ballarat VIC, 16 July 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 December 1941
Unit: No. 10 Squadron, RAF Mount Batten, Plymouth
Died: Air Operations: (No. 10 Squadron Sunderland aircraft W4020), North Atlantic, 1 August 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Henry and Christina Ethel Curtis, of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 187, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Rathmines Memorial Bowling Club, Rathmines NSW
On 1 August 1943 while Flight Lieutenant Fry (No. 10) was cooperating with 2nd Escort Group in this same area he saw a U-boat travelling surfaced at ten knots in a very rough sea only six miles from the sloops. He swung immediately towards the enemy and flew overhead, then made a tight turn to port to attack from the U-boat’s starboard quarter against very accurate fire. His starboard-inner engine was hit, and when the Sunderland closed to 400 yards a shell exploded in the starboard main fuel tank and petrol flooded the bridge. All three pilots were probably seriously wounded at this point but Fry with supreme determination pressed home the attack. The tail gunner saw the U-boat enveloped in the explosion plumes and then sink bows first. The Sunderland maintained course for about six miles, turned towards the ships and plunged into the sea, bouncing twice before settling heavily into the 15-foot swell. Meanwhile HMS Wren turned immediately to help the crashed aircraft. When it arrived ten minutes later all that remained was a stump of the mainplane with five of the crew clinging to it while a sixth man was seen swimming a quarter of a mile away. It was too rough to launch a boat even after oil had been pumped into the sea, but five men were hauled aboard by lifebelt and a seaman dived overboard and supported the other who was near exhaustion. Fry himself, whose indomitable spirit and skill combined to make this attack under conditions which might well have daunted the bravest heart, did not survive; but those members of his crew rescued soon learned that U454 had been broken in two and had sunk within thirty seconds.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 443
The crew members of W4020 were:
Flying Officer Hamilton Roland Dacre Budd (416307) (Third Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Donald Ian Conacher (420734) (Air Gunner) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 27 February 1946
Flight Sergeant Phillip Edward Cook (405965) (Radio Operator) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 June 1945
Flying Officer John Maxwell Curtis (410218) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Gregson Fry (407057) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Edmund Fryer (29746) (Fitter IIA)
Sergeant Jack Haslem (41635) (Armourer) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 8 August 1945
Sergeant Herbert Berry Lydeamore (27964) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick Olaf Pettersson (17142) (Second Flight Engineer) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 28 May 1946
Flying Officer John Hereford Portus DFC (407932) (Navigator) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 4 August 1944
Flight Sergeant Ronald Gifford Welfare (416911) (Radio Operator) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 24 September 1945
Flying Officer Arthur Maurice Welch (418026) (Second Navigator)
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 A705, 166/8/186
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ashworth, N. (Norman) The ANZAC Squadron: A history of No. 461 Squadron RAAF 1942-5, Hesperian Press Victoria Park WA 6100, 1994
Baff, K.C (Kevin), Maritime is Number Ten, K.C. Baff Netley SA, 1983
Joubert, P.B. (Sir Phillip Bennet) Birds and Fishes: the story of Coastal Command, Hutchinson and Company London, 1960
Southall, I.F. (Ivan Francis) (418900) They Shall Not Pass Unseen, Angus and Robertson Sydney NSW, 1956
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992