Request For Help: Flt. Lieut. Edward Vaughan White

[darren.crick]

G'day all,

I have received the following request for assistance...


Darren


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HI, A very good friend of my wife lost without trace or
> record an uncle who was a RAAF pilot in WW II.The information she has
> is very limited: He was Flt Lieut. Edward Vaughan White Carter and at
> the time he was a fighter pilot operating out of Darwin. She has no
> record of his Sqn nor of the aircraft type that he flew. He was
> Flight Instructor at Pt Cook. He went missing in August 1945. If you
> have any advice as to how to trace Edward it would be greatly
> appreciated. Sincerely Brian Evans
> realname: Brian Evans


Since this he has advised the correct name is Flt. Lieut. Edward Vaughan White

[herkman]

this is a strange one

He does not come up on the WW2 site under the name of Carter, White, or Carter-white.

And the christian names do not appear either.

Sorry

Col

[darren.crick]

Dean and Gordon found the following and emailed it to us;

Hello Brian
I've done some searching thorugh my records and the only White I could to
have been killed/missing during August 45 is Edward Melville White whom I
believe is the person you are seeking. Maybe another one of our dedicated
researchers can verify this for you.

Edward Melville White was a Flight Lieutenant serving with No 2 Squadron
RAAF flying B-25 Mitchell bombers. At this time 2 Squadron had been flying
out of Hughes airstrip south of Darwin, NT and were in the process of moving
to Borneo when the aircraft White was piloting went missing. Below is more
detailed information on this event.

Date: 14 Aug 45
Aircraft: B-25 Mitchell
Serial number: A47-37
Squadron: 2SQN

Crew:
Flt Lt Edward M. White 402097
Flg Off A.K. Morrell 7246
F/Sgt B.M. O’Brien 431510
F/Sgt R.A. MacGregor 433732
Cpl W.J.C. Maxwell 34759
Lac I.S. Coleman 140811
Lac B.A. Marshall 73231
Lac V.A. Morgan 88726

After the successful landings at Balikpapan, Borneo by the Allied forces
Sepinggang airfield was soon ready to take Allied aircraft and was also to
become the new home to 2SQN. 2 Squadron’s move from Hughes airstrip began on
this day when a flight of six Mitchells, led by Flt Lt Neil Sharpe, departed
for Sepinggang airfield and were to fly via Biak and Morotai. During the
approach to the New Guinea coast on the first leg the formation encountered
low cloud and Flt Lt Sharpe descended to 3,000ft. He also noted that Flt Lt
White turn away, to the right before disappearing behind cloud. Flt Lt
Sharpe then dropped to 1,000ft and radioed the formation that he was going
to fly below the cloud and upon reaching the coast would orbit and wait for
the remaining aircraft. Arriving over the coast Flt Lt Sharpe realised that
two aircraft, which had broken formation were no longer with them. Arriving
at Mokmer, Biak, one of the missing aircraft soon landed but A47-37 was not
seen again. Despite a search for the aircraft and crew it was many years
later that the wreckage would be located in Dutch New Guinea (PNG). The war
ended the very next day.

Regards
Dean


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Hi Brian,

I like Dean, have your person as F/L Edward Melville White (no Vaughan) but that could be because we received our info from the same place. Mine was the AWM WW2 nominal roll and they are known to have mistakes.

To add to Dean's info I have F/L White being born 3/3/1912 and his date of death being 14/8/1945 which was tragically a day before the end of the war in the Pacific. I also have him in 2 Sqn RAAF so he wasn't a fighter pilot but a bomber pilot.

Regards...Gordon

---

thanks Guys....


Darren

[Dean]

My information came from the book Highest Traditions by John Bennett and copies of the Casualty Cards I have on missing aircrew. Both show Flt Lt White as Flt Lt E.M. White.

In this case the AWM's information is correct.

[Dean]

Just yesterday I was contacted by an officer in Canberra with an enquiry on Flt Lt E.M. White. The original enquiry came the Office of Australian War Graves which was then forwarded to the RAAF before eventually arriving at me. It could be THIS discussion may have started the enquiry with the OAWG.

As stated my information has come from my Casualty Cards and the book Highest Traditions by John Bennett. It is in Bennetts book that it states the aircraft was found years later however all crew are listed as being on the Lae Memorial to the missing.

To assist in this enquiry I now want to contact John Bennett to confirm. If anyone has his contact details can you please email me directly.

(I have A number for a J. Bennett in Canberra but I am hoping for something more definite)

Thanks

This post has been edited by Dean on Nov 11 2006, 12:50 PM