Axel Anderson, RAAF
By Marg Powell, Specialist Library Technician, Metadata Services | 18 September 2023
Flight-Sergeant Axel Anderson, 1437 Strategic Reconnaissance Flight (RAF) was the eldest son of William and Abigail Anderson of Shorncliffe.
Anderson enlisted with the RAAF in June 1940 and first trained at Linfield (RAAF Bradfield Park), NSW where he remained until leaving Australia at the end of October for Canada. Anderson was one of 28,000 Australians who took part over three years, in the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS).
Studio portraits of Flight-Sergeant Axel Anderson, RAAF, 1940-1943. Accession M 434 Axel Henning Anderson papers, State Library of Queensland
Anderson wrote many letters home to his parents, enclosing photographs, souvenirs and postcards showing the cities he had visited in Canada, England and Scotland. He finished his training in Gloucester, England in June 1941 and in October 1941 was attached to 11 Squadron (RAF) in the Middle East, and 1437 Strategic Reconnaissance Flight.
Images of aircraft in the Middle East during the Second World War. Accession M 434 Axel Henning Anderson papers, State Library of Queensland.
Anderson suffered severe burns to the face and chest, received in an aircraft accident, 22 April 1943, while flying in a Baltimore aircraft, which crashed at the Monastir Landing Ground. RAF Ser. No. AG 829. He was admitted to No.14 Casualty Clearing Station, where he died the next day.
Included in his papers are several letters of condolence, most particularly one from the nurse who treated him on admission and who stayed with him until he passed. He was buried in the Sfax War Cemetery, in Tunisia.
His gravestone reads: "HIS DUTY FEARLESSLY AND NOBLY DONE. EVER REMEMBERED"
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