LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ross Vivian WOOLHOUSE
Service No: 415748
Born: Perth WA, 26 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 461 Squadron, Pembroke Dock
Died: Air Operations (No. 461 Squadron Sunderland aircraft JM685), off Scilly Islands, 15 August 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Pembroke Dock Military Cemetery, Pembrokeshire UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur and Edna Mary Woolhouse; husband of Doris Gladys Woolhouse, of East Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 108, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Rathmines Memorial Bowling Club, Rathmines NSW
Flight Lieutenant Davenport of No. 461 was intercepted on 14th August by the now familiar formation of six Ju-88’s and before he could reach cloud the Sunderland had been heavily damaged by explosive cannon fire, one gunner (Flight Sergeant Woolhouse) was dead and the wireless operator wounded. Davenport flew inside cloud for fifteen minutes, with no instruments to guide him, and by constantly altering course drew away from his pursuers and made a successful forced landing at the Scilly Isles.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 618
The crew members of JM685 were:
Pilot Officer Paul Cleveland Bird (406514) Safe, Discharged: 10Jan46
Flight Sergeant Alan Hazlingden Craig (420639) Safe, Discharged: 02Mar45
Flight Lieutenant Philip Roy Davenport (403216) (Pilot) Safe, Later PoW, Discharged: 29Oct45
Sergeant John Richard Edge (425495) Safe, Discharged: 01Mar46
Flight Sergeant Fowles (909888) (RAFVR) Safe
Warrant Officer Ian Cosman Jones (401696) Safe, Wounded, Discharged: 12Feb46
Flying Officer Donald Hartley Kennedy DFC (403417) Safe, Discharged: 08Sep45
Flying Officer Richard David Lucas DFC (420692) (Second Pilot) Safe, Discharged: 04Sep45
Flight Sergeant John Russell (26618) Safe, Discharged: 19Nov45
Pilot Officer Smith-Gander (52622) (RAFVR) Safe
Flying Officer Henry Hulme Turnbull (418211) Safe, Killed on Air Operations: 01Oct44
Flight Sergeant Ross Vivian Woolhouse (415748)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9186, 148 (No. 461 Squadron Operations Record Book)
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ashworth, N. (Norman) The ANZAC Squadron: A history of No. 461 Squadron RAAF 1942-5, Hesperian Press Victoria Park WA 6100, 1994
Baff, K.C (Kevin), Maritime is Number Ten; the Sunderland era, K.C. Baff Netley SA, 1983
Joubert, P.B. (Sir Phillip Bennet) Birds and Fishes: the story of Coastal Command, Hutchinson and Company London, 1960
Southall, I.F. (Ivan Francis) (418900) They Shall Not Pass Unseen, Angus and Robertson Sydney NSW, 1956
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992