Vernon Temple RUTTER

Vernon Temple RUTTER Update Details

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RUTTER, Vernon Temple

Service Number:	418182
Enlisted:	25 April 1942
Last Rank:	Flying Officer
Last Unit:	No. 142 Squadron (RAF)
Born:	Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 10 March 1913
Home Town:	Heidelberg, Banyule, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Chief Clerk, Transport & General Insurance Co., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died:	Killed in Action (flyintg battle), Italy, 25 February 1944, aged 30 years
Cemetery:	Bari War Cemetery Grave, XV. D. 31
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hackney St Peter's College WW2 Honour Roll

World War 2 Service

25 Apr 1942:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, 418182, Melbourne, Victoria
25 Apr 1942:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 418182
26 Apr 1942:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, 418182
25 Feb 1944:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 418182, No. 142 Squadron (RAF), Air War NW Europe 1939-45

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Biography

24/25 Feb 1944: The night's target was the Daimer-Puch factory at Steyr, Austria. The route was base - Start Point - Bravigne East - end of Lake Grade - Lake Millstatter - Lake Traum - target and return by the same route. Wellington X HF537 Crashed at Castel Nuovo, Italy, returning from Steyr. F/O N H Koetsueld RAAF and Sgt R Foster were injured, but F/O V T Rutter RAAF, Sgt G D V Howard RAAF and Sgt F C Churcher were killed. F/O Koetsveld died of his injuries on 4 March 1944. All the fatalities were buried in Bari War Cemetery.

"Flying Officer Vernon Rutter of Claremont, WA, navigator, and Flying Officer Norman Koetsveld of Essendon, Vic, pilot, when flying a Wellington bomber aircraft from England to North Africa, the starboard engine overheated and blew the starboard tyre and tore the cowling and fabric of the mainplane. The engine then cut, but the pilot flew the bomber over several hundred miles of sea to make a safe landing on one engine and one wheel. Another RAAF member of the crew was Flight Sergeant Tim Howard of Subiaco, WA. Note the tree behind them."

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