LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Albert Arthur SCOTT
Service No: 16890
Born: Lawlers WA, 7 November 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 June 1940
Unit: No. 462 Squadron, Hose Raui, Libya
Died: Air Operations (No. 462 Squadron Halifax aircraft BB423), Italy, 19 August 1943, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Salerno War Cemetery, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur John and Florence Margaret Scott; husband of Margaret Adeline Scott, of East Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Within the fortnight preceding 3rd September American heavy bombers alone flew nearly 1,000 sorties against rail communications, with special emphasis on Foggia, Pisa, Sulmona, Terni, Bologna and Pescara. Sometimes, as at Foggia on 19th August, the daylight raid was followed by further attack by night-flying Wellingtons The Wellingtons for the most part concentrated on the more southerly targets and made several successful attacks against Salerno, Torre Annunziata and Battipaglia, while No. 462 made small-scale raids against Crotone.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Page 56
Halifax BB423 took off from Hose Raui at 0030 hours on the morning of 19th August 1943 to bomb railway marshalling yards at Crotone, Southern Italy. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Six aircraft from the Squadron took part in the mission and of these BB423 failed to return. Other crews reported that on the return journey they had seen an aircraft shot down in flames from 13,000 feet at 0417 hours over the target. As no other aircraft was missing from operations that night it seems likely that BB423 was lost over the target.
The crew members of BB423 were:
Pilot Officer Ernest Frederick Bass (157436) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Frederick Brook Birmingham (113268) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Charles Sydney Holter (161300) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Albert Arthur Scott (16890) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Alfred Whiting (1380793) (RAFVR) (Tail 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/37/183