Service dress trousers : Pilot Officer J C Burraston, RAF

Officer's RAF blue wool service trousers with a double pleat on either side of the front waistband, a five button fly with a further two buttons fastening the waist, and six buttons around the outside waistband to support braces. All the buttons are of grey plastic. A single pocket is let into each side seam. The inside waist lining and pocket bags are of white cotton, while the fly and lower back waist lining are of RAF blue cotton twill.

Worn by Jack Clarence Burraston who served as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Burraston was born in Glen Innes, NSW, in July 1917. He joined the Royal Australian Artillery in 1937 and was posted to Darwin in May 1938. Returning to Melbourne in January 1939 he successfully applied for a flying course at Point Cook. Opportunities to join the RAAF were limited pre-war and Burraston successfully answered an advertisement from the RAFseeking Australians for officer and pilot training. He embarked for England aboard the Orama, together with 21 other Australians accepted for the scheme, on 13 August 1939. War was declared while the group was still at sea. In England Burraston undertook officer, basic and advanced flying training at Cambridge, Ansty and Cranwell. He was killed in a training accident on 6 July 1940 when he accompanied another pilot during acrobatic training. After making a stall turn the aircraft failed to recover and crashed into the River Trent, killing both men. Burraston was buried at St Andrew's Church, Cranwell, on 10 July. He was the first of 12 men among the 22 Australians to lose their lives in the Second World War.