Max Stanley BOTT MID

Max Stanley BOTT MID Update Details

If you confirm that you want to proceed with the update, this record will be locked for editing by all other users until you have finished. You will have 7 days to complete your changes before they will be automatically submitted.

Do you want to proceed?

BOTT, Max Stanley

Service Number:	260779
Enlisted:	4 March 1940
Last Rank:	Squadron Leader
Last Unit:	No. 79 Squadron (RAAF)
Born:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia., 16 April 1914
Home Town:	Mosman, Municipality of Mosman, New South Wales
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Clerk
Died:	Aircraft accident, Admiralty Islands, Pacific Islands, 16 April 1944, aged 30 years
Cemetery:	Lae War Cemetery (CWGC) Grave Reference Location ~ Plot T. Row B. Grave 11. Personal Inscription ~ "HIS DUTY NOBLY DONE".
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Manly War Memorial NSW

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Squadron Leader, 260779
4 Mar 1940:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader, 260779
8 Nov 1943:	Transferred Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader, No. 79 Squadron (RAAF), Appointed Commanding Officer.
9 Mar 1945:	Honoured Mention in Dispatches, New Britain, Awarded Posthumously for Gallant and Distinguished Service, Northern Command.

Help us honour Max Stanley Bott's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Stephen Bonald

Extract from Aviation Heritage Museum (see attached link)

On 16 April 1944, Squadron Leader Bott, a pilot, was killed in a taxying accident at Momote when the propeller of Spitfire A58-4 flown by Squadron Leader Nigel Minter Pilcher (260750) (Killed: 23 July 1945) destroyed Spitfire A28-58 at Kiriwina airstrip, Admiralty Islands. Squadron Leader Pilcher was seriously injured.

Both aircraft were taxying prior to take-off with A58-28 leading and commenced turning towards the runway intersection. A58-4 began its take-off roll believing that A58-28 had already taken-off and the port wing of A58-4 struck A58-28 on the rudder and sheared up the fuselage cutting off the top of the cockpit. The port wing of A58-4 was torn off and the aircraft turned onto its back in a port roll and landed about fifty yards further along the runway and skidded for another hundred yards.

Virtual
War Memorial
Australia