LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Donald Malcolm RUTTER
Service No: 420500
Born: West Maitland NSW, 8 June 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wyton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB424), Germany, 22 November 1943, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Yates Rutter and Elsie Johannah Rutter; husband of Agnes Burns Rutter, of Belmont, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Belmont NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1702 hours on the night of 22 November 1943 Lancaster JB424 took off from Wyton detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in Schiller Park, Berlin, and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of JB424 were:
Sergeant Thomas Cubitt (1453409) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Henry Eugene Middleton Dulieu (658873) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Francis Joseph Fay (1081397) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Ralph Henderson DFM (156121) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Paterson McAdam (1567091) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John Predergast (1304420) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Donald Malcolm Rutter (420500) (Mid Upper Gunner)
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, 166/36/148