The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (403916) Flying Officer Jack Faviell, No. 21 Squadron 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 Greg Kimball, the story for this day was on (403916) Flying Officer Jack Faviell, No. 21 Squadron RAAF, Second World War.

403916 Flying Officer Jack Faviell, No. 21 Squadron RAAF
KIA 31 July 1945
Story delivered 30 July 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer Jack Bonfield Faviell.

Jack Faviell was born in 1915, one of three children of Horace and Ida Faviell of Bonville, near Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales mid-north coast. Faviell was as a lawyer in civilian life. He had spent six years at Rimmington & Co. in Sydney as an articled clerk before becoming a solicitor for the New South Wales Supreme Court. Residing at Cremorne, he also spent time in the Citizens Military Forces, parading part-time with the 7th Field Brigade.

Faviell enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in March 1941 and began aircrew training as a pilot under the auspices of the Empire Air Training Scheme. After initial training at Bradfield Park, he carried out elementary flight training at Mascot before embarking for Canada.

Faviell’s postings after leaving Australia highlight the truly multinational effort that went into training British and Commonwealth airmen under the Empire Air Training Scheme, as well as the global nature of the Second World War. In Canada, Faviell flew Avro Ansons at the service flight training school at Fort Macleod in Alberta, after which he was attached to the Royal Air Force and posted to the Abu Sueir airfield near Port Said in Egypt. Faviell spent time at an operational training unit at Nakuru in Kenya where he converted to Baltimores, Blenheims and Lysanders , and in December 1942, was posted to No. 52 Squadron RAF at Habbaniya which carried out survey work over Iraq in Blenheims and Baltimores. In April 1943, he was posted to No. 38 Squadron RAF at Fayid in Egypt and flew minelaying, reconnaissance and anti-submarine sorties in Vickers Wellingtons.

Faviell’s postings to the Western Desert had given him a wealth of operational experience in a variety of aircraft. A skilled and experienced pilot, he spent time instructing at No. 203 (Maintenance) Group at RAF El Ballah before returning to Australia in July 1944 for operational service in the Royal Australian Air Force. After leave and passing through a number of personnel depots, Faviell was promoted to flying officer and was posted an operational training unit in Tocumwal in southern New South Wales where he accumulated hours flying B-24 Liberator heavy bombers.

With the war against Japan now reaching its critical stages, it was clear that Faviell would soon be posted to an operational squadron operating in the Pacific. He married Kathleen Milne in Sydney in May 1945, and later that month was posted to No. 21 Squadron RAAF, then based at Moratai Island off Papua. A heavy bomber unit equipped with Liberators, No. 21 Squadron was striking at Japanese targets throughout Indonesia in support of Allied ground operations at Tarakan and Balikpapan on Borneo. Faviell’s first cousin, Flying Officer Kenneth Hanson, was also a pilot at No. 21 Squadron at the time.

Several weeks after joining the squadron, Faviell was among the nine Australian airmen on board Liberator A72-66, which took off from Morotai on the morning of 31 July 1945 to attack Japanese anti-aircraft positions at Lolobata in the Halmahera Islands. The weather encountered during the flight was generally poor with low clouds and heavy rain, with the other participating aircraft receiving word or seeing anything of Faviell’s aircraft during the operation. Despite extensive searches over the following days, interviews with native villages, and an examination of Japanese records after the war, the whereabouts of A72-66 was never officially determined. All crew on board were eventually listed as having been killed in action. Faviell’s cousin, Flying Officer Hanson, had been killed just four days earlier.

Aged 29 at the time of his death, Jack Faviell’s final resting place remains unknown, and as such, his name is recorded on a memorial at Ambon War Cemetery in Indonesia. His name is also 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 Jack Faviell, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section