Portrait of 400976 Sergeant (Sgt) David Taylor Galt, RAAF. Sgt Galt enlisted on 7 December 1940 ...

Portrait of 400976 Sergeant (Sgt) David Taylor Galt, RAAF. Sgt Galt enlisted on 7 December 1940 in Melbourne and trained as a pilot. Promoted Pilot Officer (PO), the Avro Lancaster he was flying was shot down on a sortie to Stuttgart on 22/23rd November 1942. The crew parachuted to safety, with PO Galt and two others of the crew managing to evade capture and return to England; the remaining five became prisoners of war (POWs). PO Galt was awarded the Distinuished Flying Cross (DFC), the citation stating "This officer has displayed great gallantry, coolness and presence of mind in hazardous circumstances when his aircraft was hit and set on fire by anti aircraft gunfire". The following year, as a Flying Officer with 461 Squadron, he was presumed lost at sea whilst on anti-submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay. His aircraft, Short Sunderland DV969 had left Pembroke Dock at 0708 hrs on 13 August 1943; at 1427 they signalled they were being attacked by six Junkers 88s. No trace of the aircraft or crew were ever found.