| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | PR03263 |
| Collection type | Private Record |
| Record type | Collection |
| Measurement | Extent: 6 cm; Wallet/s: 2 |
| Object type | Letter, Log book, Serial |
| Maker |
Fairfax, Allan Graham Various |
| Place made | Australia, United States of America |
| Date made | 1941-1942, 1945, 1949 |
| Access | Open |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copying Provisions | Copyright expired. Copying permitted subject to physical condition. Permission for reproduction not required., Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
Fairfax, Allan Graham (Pilot Officer, b.1917 - d.1942)
Description
Collection relating to the Second World War service of 412502 Pilot Officer Allan Graham Fairfax, 19 Bombardment Group, Australia, New Guinea, 1940-1942.
Wallet 1 of 2 - Consists of a letter acknowledging Fairfax's application for entry into the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), his flying log book, and a news clipping from December 1942 reporting recent RAAF casualties killed or missing on operations; the list includes Fairfax and Flight Sergeant Rawdon Middleton VC. Fairfax's log book dates from November 1941. It documents his training as an observer and navigator at No 2 Air Observers School in Mt Gambier and No 19 Air Observers Advanced Navigation Course in Parkes, as well as his subsequent operational service over New Guinea with the 19th Bombardment Group, United States Army Air Force (USAAF). Fairfax's final logged flight is 17 November 1942; five days before he was posted as missing on air operations.
Wallet 2 of 2 - Contains 27 letters and four telegrams, the majority of which were sent to Fairfax by his mother, father and wife Edna between July 1940 and December 1942. Fairfax's family writes of news from home, of soldiers and Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurses in Tamworth, local patriotic initiatives, news of the war in Europe, their concern when Fairfax falls ill, of Fairfax's engagement and marriage to Edna, of his postings and life in Mt Gambier, and of their love for him. The collection also includes one letter by Fairfax, sent to a friend in April 1942. He writes of his posting to an Operational Training Unit, completing bombing and gunnery courses, and of a recent flying accident in which his aircraft crash landed. Also with the collection are two letters of condolence, a letter sent to Fairfax that was returned unopened after he was posted as missing, and two post-war letters to Edna. The latter consist of a letter of condolence by Fairfax's sister Enid following confirmation by the Air Board that Fairfax was killed in operations, and a letter by a former USAAF airman who served with Fairfax, updating Edna of his life since the war.