Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edgar Claude Fulton was born in New South Wales in 1919. The son of Edgar Glendenning Fulton and Mable Augusta Fulton (nee Lennox). He was named after his father. Edgar was their first born.

He attended Telopea High School in Canberra. Edgar completed his Intermediate certificate in 1934, then he followed on with his Leaving certificate in 1937. 

He then entered the Public Service as a junior clerk. Edgar worked in what was then the Commonwealth Department of the Interior.

However, he had Physics lectures at night school to further his career. For he did not want to have to remain in his current clerical role.

In Dec 1938, after completing his phyics course, Edgar commenced part time militia training in signals. For war clouds were on the horizon. Though his war service asperations were RAAF Aircrew, not Army.

He applied for RAAF Aircrew under the Empire Air Training Scheme in 1940. However, it was not until mid 1941 he was was accepted.  

Edgar made the cut for Pilot training after making it through his initial RAAF Aircrew sorting course.

He did his Elementary Flying in No. 11 E.F.T.S. at Benalla in Victoria. There he mastered the DH-82A Tiger Moth to go solo. He achieved that milestone within the maximum time frame that RAAF Flying Instructors would allow. 

Edgar was sent to Canada, under the Empire Air Training Scheme to do his Advanced Flight Training in the RCAF. He trained in No. 3 S.F.T.S. RCAF which was located near Calgary in Alberta Province, Canada.

He graduated as a SGT Pilot. Hence got his coveted RAAF wings. That in itself was quite an achievement.  

Edgar had been streamed for RAF Bomber Command after completing his basic RCAF twin engine training. 

Hence he now had to cross the Atlantic during the height of the Battle for the Atlantic to reach England.  

Edgar did his initial RAF Bomber conversion in an RAF Wellington. This was followed by Heavy Bomber Conversion first in an RAF Halifax. Then in an RAF Lancaster. However, he had very few solo hours.

Edgar was then posted to No. 460 Sqn (Bomber) RAAF.  This famous RAAF Squadron was flying night strategic combat missions over North Western Europe when he reported for duty on 27 Feb 1943.

Edgar had logged a mere four hours solo at night in an RAF Lancaster pror to reporting to his CO after arriving at 460 Sqn HQ. The high attrition rate on Bomber Command Ops was due to Night Fighters and Flak.

Hence his CO sent him on an Night NAVEX with his green crew to build up his night solo command hours. 

This NAVEX in itself was dangerous because Night Fighters were active near Bomber Command bases.  

No 460 Sqn was based at RAF Breighton in Yorkshire on 02 March 1943 when Edgar departed that RAF Aerodrome at 19:12 Hours. He was the Captain of RAAF Lancaster W4864.

His crew was green. There was a Navigational error which caused W4864 to impact a tree. That 50 Foot high tree was on top of a 300 Foot high hill. Edgar then crashed into that hill. His fuel tanks ruptured causing an extensive fire. There were no survivors. 

RAAF Accident Report states that the cloud base was 800 Feet. The tree that he hit was on the top of the 300 Foot hill. 

He was likely attempting to land at a local Areodrome he sighted due to the low cloud base. That aspect is correct procedure.      

It was concluded that the navigation error was in fact Pilot error caused by incorrect heading being steered.

The track flown on the final leg was confirmed by the Royal Observer Corps. The inexperienced Navigator had not doubled checked. However, the Pilot is responsible for steering the correct heading. 

Low cloud base meant no astro fix was possible. Likwise low night level flying. That caused additional problems.    

However, the overarching issue here is that Edgar had only accumulated four hours of night solo in that enormous Lancaster Bomber. 

This Pilot was then expected to fly long range deep penetration combat missions of twice that duration, over enemy territory at night.

The high attrition in Bomber Command meant that green crews had to replace fallen veterans.

Hence, green crews were expected to increase their proficiency "on the job" in combat. There was no other way at that time to replace all the fallen heavy bomber crews.   

Such was the nature of strategic bombing at that stage of the war. Lest We Forget.