S/L Murray Charlton - 59 Squadron RAF

Rank & Name: S/L Murray Charlton DFC - RAAF

Date of Death: Unknown - Returned Servicemen

Details:

Murray Charlton enlisted in the RAAF on the 18th of Sept. 1940. On the 16th of Feb. 1941 he arrived in Canada for training. On the 20th of Dec he left Canada for the UK were he arrived on the 5th of Jan. 1942. On the 29th he was attached to 59 Sqaudron were he stayed until the end of Dec. 1943 when he was posted to No.2 PDC. In Feb. 1944 he was posted to 111 OTU in Nassau (there were quite a few ex-59 Squadron members in Nassau) and remained there till Nov. he was then posted to AFHQ (RAF) in Ottawa for 6 months and was back in Australia by mid 1945. On the 18th Oct. 1945 he was honourably discharged ending his service at PARA TU at Tocumwal.

Further Information

Citation: DFC

Flight Lieutenant CHARLTON has flown on numerous long range sorties and anti-shipping patrols. On two occasions, he has attaacked singly enemy submarines of which the second attack was made in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire.

Flight lieutenant CHARLTON has consistently set a high standard of airmenship and devotion to duty.

I am not sure of the exact date that this award was deemed effective, however S/L Charlton was promoted to the rank of F/L on the 10th June 1943 (whilst with 59 Squadron) and was again promoted to the rank of S/L on the 1st of Jan 1945 (whilst in Ottawa). I did find note of this award marked as "Gazette 71/44" so one would assume that the "44" stands for "1944". If so, then he received his award whilst flying for either No.2 PDC (Personnel Dispatch Centre, Morcombe) or 111 OTU.

Above shows the hours that S/L Charlton flew with 59 Squadron (taken from the Australian National Archives) It shows he flew (13 sorties) 300hrs with the Hudson as 1st Pilot, (7 sorties) 130hrs with the Fortress I-II as first pilot and (30 sorties) 533 hours with the Liberator II, V and H&J? as 1st Pilot and 17 hours as 2nd Pilot. for a rounded total of 50 sorties and 980 hours with 59 Squadron. The 980 hours was then broken down into 560 Operational Hours. The grand total hours for the war was 1930 hours.

Also included on the page but not shown here is the hours and information for other bases and squadrons he was attachhed too. which includes:

Elementary Flying Training:
No.5 EFTS (Narromine NSW) - Tiger Moth - 56 hours

Service Flying Training:
No.4 SFTS (Saskatoon Can) – Cessna Crane – 84 hours

Operational Training Unit:
No.31 OUT (Debert Canada) – Hudson – 110 hours

General Flying Training:
Aircraft (various) - Anson, DH86, Oxford, Harvard – 79 hours

SPECIAL COURSES:
General Reconnaissance:
No.31 GRS (Charlettetown Can.) – Anson I – 47 hours
RAF Transport Command (Dorval Can) – Hudson – 18 hours
Blind Approach Training:
1509 B.A.T FLT (Dyce, Scotland) – Oxford – 14 hours

NON OPERATIONAL FLYING DETAILS:
No.111 OUT (Nassau, Bahamas):
Liberator B24 – 340 hours
Mitchell B25 – 123 hours
Grumman Goose Amphibian – 47 hours 1st pilot and 32 hours 2nd pilot.

The above makes note of S/L Charlton being hospitalised for a month shortly before the war in Europe ended. I am not sure as to the cause of his stay in hospital, though in his digital record there was note of a review as to whether a (later) illness was as a direct result of injuries sustained during the war. There was no recorded outcome to the enquiry.