Paul Gotthelf PFEIFFER

PFEIFFER, Paul Gotthelf

Service Number: 416005
Enlisted: 1 March 1941
Last Rank: Flight Sergeant
Last Unit: No. 461 Squadron (RAAF)
Born: Point Pass, South Australia, 5 December 1916
Home Town: Point Pass, Goyder, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: School-Master/German teacher
Died: Accidental (flying crash), Invergordon, Scotland, Scotland, United Kingdom, 3 January 1945, aged 28 years
Cemetery: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, North Yorkshire, England
Section H; Row D; Grave 17, Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Memorials: Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Eudunda War Memorial, Robertstown Peace Hall Roll of Honor WW2, Korea & Vietnam
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World War 2 Service

1 Mar 1941: Involvement Flying Officer, 416005
1 Mar 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, 416005
1 Mar 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 416005
27 Apr 1944: Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 416005, No. 461 Squadron (RAAF)
Date unknown: Involvement

Paul Pirffer

Please see the first hand account of the accident in which Paul was killed from Norman Sheehan DFC enclosed in the article on the loss of Marsh Godsall and crew under personal story Herbert Marshall Godsall

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Biography contributed by Julianne Ryan

Born 5/12/1916 at Point Pass, South Australia

Father Gottlieb August Pfeiffer and Mother Maria Augusta Mathilda Pfeiffer,
lived at Point Pass, South Australia

Siblings:
Brother:   William John Pfeiffer, living at Seppeltsfield, SA
Brother:   John Alwyn Pfeiffer
Brother:   Otto Wilhelm Pfeiffer, farmer in Eudunda, SA
Sister:      Martha Maria Klante (nee Pfeiffer), Warranmboo, SA
Sister:      Lydia Emma Braunach (nee Pfeiffer), Kongolia, SA
Sister:      Elsie Matilda Pfeiffer
Sister:      Hulda Helena Pfeiffer

Worked as an Assistant School-Master, and Tutor at St Marks College

Paul lived at 46 Pennington Terrace, North Adelaide, SA prior to enlisting.

Described on enlisting as 24 yrs 2 mths old; single; 5' 8" tall; 144 lbs;
medium complexion; blue eyes; fair hair; Church of England

1/3/1941       enlisted into RAAF, at No.5 Recruitment Centre, Adelaide, SA

25/5/1941     embarked from Australia for overseas

13/3/1942     awarded  "Air Observer's Badge"

16/1/1943     Flying Pilot with 461 Squadron

19/9/1943     No.1 AAS Manby

14/9/1943     promoted to Flight Sergeant

27/10/1943   rank Pilot Officer with 461 Squadron

6/2/1944       Pembroke dock

27/4/1944     rank Flying Officer

August 1944  RAF Station Pembroke Dock, Wales. Paul was a member of No.461
                    (Sunderland) Squadron RAAF in the UK registering their votes.

3/1/1945       Paul was a crew member of a Sunderland Aircraft ML 738.
                    to carry out a special photographic detail.  The aircraft was airborne at 1310 hours
                    on 3/1/1945.  The takeoff was a normal cross-wind takeoff, the subsequent climb
                    appeared to witnesses to be steeper than usual and when about 200 feet up the
                    aircraft became unstable laterally.  It was seent o drop its starboard wing then its
                    port wing and finally its starboard wing dropped and continued to go down until the
                    aircraft struck the water with this wing and its nose.
                    The aircraft broke up on impact and four survivors were rescued, two of them died
                    in hospital.   (retrieved from the ocean, at Cromarty Firth, Scotland.)

4/1/1945       died of injuries received in flying accident, did not regain consciousness
                     in Royal Naval Hospital, Invergordon at Cromarty Firth, Scotland

Buried in:       Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
                     Section H; Row D; Grave 17

His name is commemorated on Panel 128 at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT.

Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan.  5/7/2016.  Lest we forget.

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