LEST WE FORGET
Second Lieutenant Percy Harold LAWSON
Service No: 1467
Born: Largs Bay SA, January 1897
Enlisted in the Army: 26 July 1915
Unit: No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Aircraft Accident, France, 6 January 1918, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, Lapugnoy, Bethune, Nord Pas de Calais, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mary Lawson, of Fletcher Rd., Peterhead, South Australia, and the late John Lawson
Place of Association: Port Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Orders were then received to deploy to join the 10th Wing of the First Army at the Auchel/ Lozinghem aerodrome, 60 kilometres north of Baizieux, near Bethune. On 6 January the first of the Squadron’s machines left for their new base. Second Lieutenant Percy Lawson crashed on the approach to land at Auchel. His machine (1) flat turned into a spin from 400 feet, caught fire on impact, and he was burnt to death. He had been on the Squadron for six weeks. The remainder of the aircraft deployed from Baizieux three days later.
(1) SE5a aircraft B55
Extract from Bennett, J. (John William) Highest Traditions: the history of No. 2 Squadron RAAF, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1995 – Page 51
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, LAWSON PERCY HAROLD
National Archives UK RAF Casualty Book AIR 1/968 page 461, 165035
Bibliography:
Bennett, J. (John William) Highest Traditions: the history of No. 2 Squadron RAAF, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1995