LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Keith Alexander FITTON
Service No: 403730
Born: Kogarah NSW, 2 October 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 March 1941
Unit: No. 31 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-182), off Rotti Island, 28 March 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander Henry Smith Fitton and Beatrice Janet Fitton; husband of Jean Lillian Fitton, of Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Kogarah NSW
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0710 hours on 28 March 1944, Beaufighter A19-182 was one of six aircraft which took off from Drysdale River Mission, Western Australia, detailed to attack shipping in Pepela Bay, Rotti Island, west of Timor. A19-182 was on its second run at a lugger, when it struck the mast with its port wing. The aircraft climbed steeply up to 200 feet, rolled on to its back and dived steeply into the ground. It exploded on impact, 150 yards from a village on the south side of Pepela Bay, at 0910 hours and no survivors were seen after the crash.
The crew members of A19-182 were:
Flight Lieutenant Keith Alexander Fitton (403730) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Raymond Charles Foyle (410970) (Navigator Wireless)
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 A9300, FITTON K A; A9845, 21
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990