The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (11615) Flight Sergeant Charles Edward Adair, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (11615) Flight Sergeant Charles Edward Adair, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

Flight Sergeant Charles Edward Adair , No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
DOD 23 September 1943
Photo: UK0456

Story delivered 8 May 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Charles Edward Adair.

Born in Swan Hill in Victoria on 17 February 1920, Charles was the son of Michael and Doris Adair. He attended the local state primary and high schools, and his hobbies and sporting interests included horse riding, swimming, boxing and football. After finishing his studies, he became a drover.

Adair enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in August 1940 and was made a member of the service police. In July 1941 he applied to become air crew, and was given the opportunity to train as a wireless air gunner. However, according to the training report, understanding Morse code “got the better of him”, so it was recommended that he attend the bombing and gunnery school to become an air gunner. At this he was successful.

During this period of training, in January 1942, Adair married Joyce Beryl Bassett in Brisbane. A year later, he embarked for overseas service, arriving in England in March 1943. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,000 Royal Australian Air Force pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who joined
Australian and British squadrons in Britain throughout the course of the war.

Adair undertook further specialist training before being posted to No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. As part of Bomber Command, No. 467 Squadron flew the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On the night of 23 September 1943, the Lancaster DV 233 in which Adair was rear gunner left England on a bombing operation over Germany. Its primary target was the industrial city of Mannheim in the country’s south-west. The bomber was attacked by a German fighter plane, and the fuselage and engines were set on fire. The pilot ordered the crew to bail out, before the aircraft crashed near the Goddelau Railway Station, 50 kilometres north of Mannheim. Five of the seven crew were taken prisoners of war. The badly burned body of Adair, aged 23, was found in the tail of the aircraft. The pilot also perished, but his body was never found.

Flight Sergeant Adair was buried at the local cemetery, but later reinterred in the Durnbach War Cemetery, in Bavaria, Germany. His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among more than 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flight Sergeant Charles Adair, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Emma Campbell
Researcher, Military History Section