The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (416005) Flying Officer Paul Gotthelf Pfeiffer, 40 Operational Training RAF (RAAF), 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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (416005) Flying Officer Paul Gotthelf Pfeiffer, 40 Operational Training RAF (RAAF), Second World War.

416005 Flying Officer Paul Gotthelf Pfeiffer, 40 Operational Training RAF (RAAF)
Accidentally killed 3 January 1945

Story delivered 29 November 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer Paul Gotthelf Pfeiffer.

Paul Pfeiffer was born on 5 December 1916 to Gottlieb and Maria Pfeiffer of Point Pass, South Australia. Gottlieb Pfeiffer was a farmer from the close-knit German community to the north of Eudunda. He died when Paul was 15 years old as a result of a serious accident that had occurred some years earlier.

Paul was a studious child. After obtaining his leaving certificate at Emmanuel College in Adelaide, he went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Adelaide, with honours in English literature. His particular interest was in languages, and he spoke French and German fluently. In 1940 he was awarded the Bundey Prize for English verse, having entered poetry he had written about Spain. In the same year he gained employment as a tutor at St Mark’s College in Adelaide, teaching English literature and German.

Pfeiffer was 24 years old when he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 1 March 1941. After a period of training in Australia, he was sent to South Africa and Rhodesia for further training. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who, throughout the course of the war, joined Royal Air Force squadrons or Australian squadrons based in Britain.

Pfeiffer went on to serve in Coastal Command. In 1942 he was assigned to an operational training unit in the north of the United Kingdom, and eventually became a staff member.

Pfeiffer’s unit flew Sunderland flying boats, and he became a competent navigator. In 1943 he was in a Sunderland that attempted to save nine
airmen who were adrift in a dinghy 120 miles from land in the Atlantic. Although they tried to alight on the sea a number of times, strong waves prevented their coming down safely, and the men had to be rescued by a destroyer.
Later that year, Pfeiffer’s Sunderland was involved in sinking a German U-Boat in the Bay of Biscay. Working in conjunction with another aircraft, the two took turns to drop depth charges from a few feet above the submarine until it exploded.

In early January 1945, Flying Officer Pfeiffer’s Sunderland took off for a special flight to test special photographic equipment. The aircraft flew north and landed in Cromarty Firth, Scotland. There the crew had to wait for nearly an hour for a snowstorm to pass. Just after 1pm the aircraft took off and seemed to climb normally, until the wings dipped and the plane suddenly came down on the sea, breaking up on impact. Witnesses sent boats out to the burning aircraft. Flight Lieutenant Johnston, who was piloting the aircraft, was killed. While the rest of the crew survived the initial crash, Flying Officer Paul Pfeiffer and Pilot Officer Zita were seriously injured. They were taken to hospital, but both died shortly afterwards.

Paul Pfeiffer was buried in Harrogate in North Yorkshire by his comrades. He had just turned 28 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 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 Flying Officer Paul Gotthelf Pfeiffer, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section