LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Montague David ELLERTON
Service No: 568
Born: 1 March 1919, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 75 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 75 Squadron Kittyhawk aircraft A29-69), north of Cooktown QLD, 21 April 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Townsville War Cemetery QLD
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Montague and Mabel Eliza Ellerton; husband of Judith Jean Ellerton, of Burwood, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Burwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 103, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 21 April 1942, Flying Officer Ellerton in A29-69 and Sergeant Sims in another Kittyhawk left
Seven Mile Aerodrome, Port Moresby, to ferry the aircraft for repairs at a depot in Australia, and return to Port Moresby with two replacement aircraft. On 30 April, verbal reports from USAAC said that an Officer presumably from No. 75 Squadron had been killed in an aircraft accident on the mainland on 21 April. On investigation, the discovery was made that Flying Officer Ellerton had been killed when attempting a landing on the beach between Murdoch Point and Rocky Ledges, on the coast of Queensland, about 50 miles north of Cooktown. His aircraft had overturned in landing on the beach, and he was killed in the crash. He was attempting to land to provide assistance to Lieutenant William McGovern USAAF who had crashed his Aircobra aircraft in the vicinity on the previous day.
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, 163/30/58