RUSSELL, Malcolm John
| Service Number: | 442507 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 August 1943 |
| Last Rank: | Flight Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | Aircrew Training Units |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia,, 29 December 1922 |
| Home Town: | Barmera, Berri and Barmera, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Paruna primary school, South Australia, |
| Occupation: | Police trainee Constable |
| Died: | Aircraft accident, Mildura, Victoria, Australia, 7 August 1945, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
Mildura (Nichols Point) Public Cemetery, Victoria War Graves Plot C. Row C. Grave 7, Mildura Public Cemetery, Mildura, Victoria, Australia |
| Memorials: | Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Barmera Memorial Gates, Paruna Memory of the Fallen Arch Gates, Thebarton S.A. Police Roll of Honor Supreme Sacrifice |
World War 2 Service
| 28 Aug 1943: | Involvement Flight Sergeant, 442507, Aircrew Training Units, Empire Air Training Scheme | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Aug 1943: | Enlisted Adelaide, SA | |
| 28 Aug 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 442507 | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement |
Flight Sergeant Malcolm RUSSELL - Courtesy of Air Force Association - SA Division.
7 August 1945: South Australian airmen killed in No 2 Operational Training Unit training sortie.
On this day in 1945, a young South Australian was killed in a Kittyhawk aircraft crash while on a training sortie only eight days before the end of World War 2.
Malcolm John Russell was born on 29 December 1922 in Adelaide. He was one of two sons of Horace Wakefield Livingston Russell and Ivy Elsie Russell, of Barmera, South Australia.
Completing school at Paruna Primary School in eastern South Australia (Mallee) and then Adelaide Business College, he joined the South Australian Police and was a trainee Constable at Thebarton Police Station.
He enlisted in the RAAF at 5 Recruit Centre, Adelaide, on 28 August 1943 aged 22. Completing initial training at Victor Harbor from September to December 1943, he completed No 1 Elementary Flying Training School at Parafield, Adelaide, from January to May 1944 and then No 7 Service Flying Training School, Deniliquin, where he graduated as an airmen pilot on 18 November 1944.
He completed further training at No 5 Service Flying Training School at Uranquinty before being posted to No 2 Operational Training Unit, Mildura, where he was undergoing conversion onto the Kittyhawk.
At about 1930hrs he took off from Mildura airbase on a night training mission in Kittyhawk A29-130 when shortly after takeoff, the aircraft crashed about 1 mile from the airfield killing him.
A29-130 had previously seen action serving with 75 SQN in Papua New Guinea during the Battle of Milne Bay.
Tragically, FLIGHT SGT Malcolm Russell was one of the many young Australians who perished in training accidents while simply learning to become a pilot and not getting to experience operational service nor the joy of the end of the war which would occur only eight days after his death.
Even more tragic, his older brother, Lt Colin Neil Russell, was killed in action serving on HMAS Australia on 5 January 1945 only eight months before.
Because LT Collin Russell was lost at sea, their parents specifically sought the return of Flight SGT Malcolm Russell’s body for burial at Barmera.
Unfortunately, the RAAF decreed otherwise and he was buried at Mildura Public Cemetery with his parents losing both their sons in the space of only eight months in the last year of the war.
On his CWGC headstone at MILDURA his parents added
"Brother of
Leiut C M RUSSELL
Lost at Sea
Off Phillipines 5-1-1945."
Lest we forget.
Submitted 16 July 2022 by N. Campbell
Biography contributed by David Barlow
Son of Horace Wakefield Livingston Russell and Ivy Elsie Russell of Barmera, South Australia
Pilot of Kittyhawk aircraft A29-130 of Number 2 Operational Training Unit which crashed near Mildura, Victoria
Biography contributed by N. Campbell
Malcolm RUSSELLs aircraft.
The KITTYHAWK was a single-seat fighter or fighter-bomber aircraft.
The Curtiss P-40E fighter was a single-seat aircraft powered by a V-1710-39 Allison In-line liquid cooled engine.
The armament was six M2 0.50 inch calibre Browning machine guns, mounted in the wings. The airframe was manufactured primarily from aluminium although the control surfaces were fabric covered.
Nearly 850 P-40s were acquired for use by the RAAF and served with distinction during the Second World War. The first machines were operated from 1941 in North Africa by 3 and 450 Squadrons RAAF.
The first P-40s for service in the Pacific theatre were received by the RAAF from March 1942. The first of these entered action with 75 Squadron at Port Moresby within two weeks. The Kittyhawks were the only effective RAAF fighters throughout the fighting at Port Moresby and Milne Bay in 1942, the critical period when the Japanese advance towards Australia was stopped.
Kittyhawks continued to play a major role throughout the remainder of the war in the Pacific equipping numerous RAAF squadrons.
The AWM has a Kittyhawk P-40E -I-CU and they state it was constructed by the Curtiss Wright Corporation at their factory in Buffalo, New York, USA. Their aircraft was allotted the US military serial 41-36084. It was shipped to Australia and was received by 2 Aircraft Depot in Richmond NSW 8 June 1942 and allotted the serial number A29-133 (three after the one Malcolm RUSSELL was flying).
As August progressed it became clear that Milne Bay would be an important objective for the Japanese who were expected to attempt a landing in force on the morning of 25 August. Reports were received of Japanese barges and naval vessels in the area, together with a report of a barge landing at Goodenough Island. Shortly after midday the aircraft form 75 Squadron attacked and destroyed seven barges at this location. Later the formation attacked a large Japanese convoy on route to Milne Bay.
The Japanese landed on 26 August 1942 and finally withdrew by 7 September. In the first five days of the operation the Kittyhawks of 75 Squadron were heavily involved in strafing the Japanese troops in support of the defending allied ground forces.
HISTORY OF AIRCRAFT - Kittyhawk- A29-130
A29-130 -(model) P-40E-1
(USAAF allocated serial (manufacture) 41-36080
(delivered to RAAF) '6/42
This aircraft served with 75 Sqn and 2 OTU.
On 21/6/42 it was received by 75 Sqn from 2 AD and served with them during the Battle for Milne Bay.
*-On 14/12/42 it was received back at 75 Sqn after having an engine change.
*-On 12/1/43 it was received back at 75 from 10 RSU.
*-On 3/11/43 it was received by 2 OTU and then early in 1944 was sent to CGS from 2 OTU.
*-On 9/11/44 it was received back at 2 OTU from CGS.
*-On 7/8/45 with 2 OTU it crashed during night time take-off from the airstrip at Mildura, Victoria killing Flight Sgt Malcom John Russell.
(Thanks to AWM and ADF Serials websites)
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