LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Alfred WHITE
Service No: 432912
Born: Paddington NSW, 6 October 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1943
Unit: RAF Station Fayid, (Landing Ground 211), Egypt
Died: Aircraft Accident (Thunderbolt aircraft KJ169), Egypt, 13 January 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Fayid War Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur George and Sylvia Florence White, of Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Manly NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 13 January 1945, Thunderbolt KJ169 took off on a training flight and crashed near Ismailia, Egypt, and Flight Sergeant White was killed. An Inquiry into the accident found that the accident was undoubtedly caused by the Pilot attacking two untraced Spitfires, such attacks being unauthorised. It was believed that while doing the second attack possibly by trying to follow the more manoeuvrable Spitfire round in a turn, or attempting to pull out of the dive too quickly, KJ169 got into a high speed stall or flick stall, and was unable to recover before hitting the ground.
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, 163/43/1101