The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (405884) Pilot Officer Stuart Nicholson Scott, No. 460 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (405884) Pilot Officer Stuart Nicholson Scott, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

405884 Pilot Officer Stuart Nicholson Scott, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Killed in flying battle 30 July 1943

Story delivered 20 February 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Pilot Officer Stuart Nicholson Scott.

Stuart Scott was born in Brisbane on 12 March 1919, the son of Charles and Edith Scott.

After completing his schooling, he worked as a bank clerk at the Queensland National Bank branch at Mossman in far north Queensland
On 21 June 1941, at the age of 22, Scott enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and began training as a bomb aimer. After his initial training in Australia, he left Sydney on 16 June 1942 for overseas service.

As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Scott 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.

Arriving in Britain in late August 1942, Scott underwent further specialist training before being posted to No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. By the time of his posting, Scott had risen through the ranks to pilot officer.

No. 460 Squadron would become the most highly decorated Australian squadron in Bomber Command, and the squadron that suffered the highest casualties. Flying twin-engined Vickers Wellingtons medium bombers, and then four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, the squadron lost over 1,000 men: Australian, British, Canadians, New Zealanders and South Africans. Almost 600 Australians from 460 Squadron are listed here on the Roll of Honour.

During a bombing raid on Stettin, Germany, in April 1943, the Lancaster in which Scott was bomb aimer was severely damaged. While over the Baltic Sea, the aircraft was repeatedly hit by fire from an armed ship. One engine was put out of action, its tail was damaged, and a shell penetrated the bomb bay, exploding among the incendiaries. Despite the severe damage, the pilot and navigator managed to get the Lancaster back to England for a safe landing, after which the pilot collapsed at the controls. Remarkably, only the navigator, Flying Officer Charles Anderson, was wounded, and he soon returned to duty with the rest of the crew.

On the night of 29-30 July 1943, 24 Lancasters from No. 460 Squadron were taking part in a large bombing raid. As part of the battle of Hamburg, known as Operation Gomorrah, the raid was part of a bombing offensive on the German city by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force, which had begun on 24 July and lasted eight days and seven nights.

On this occasion Scott’s Lancaster and crew were not so lucky. Shot down over Germany, the aircraft crashed in the Hamburg area, killing all on board.

Stuart Scott was 24 years old.

With no known grave, today Scott is commemorated upon the Air Forces Memorial overlooking the River Thames at Runnymede. The memorial lists all the missing British and Commonwealth airmen.
His name is listed here 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 Pilot Officer Stuart Nicholson Scott, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section