In Memory Of

RUSSELL, AIDAN STEWART

Service Details
Age:
24
Date of Birth:
1916-07-25
Service No:
47857V
Rank:
Lieutenant
Unit:
1 Sqdn.
Regiment:
South African Air Force
Date of Death:
1941-06-30
Cause of Death:
Killed in action, presumed shot down over sea during convoy patrol NW of Sidi Barrani, in Hawker Hurricane Mk I #Z4112
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
Column 245.
Cemetery:
ALAMEIN MEMORIAL
Country:
Egypt
Additional Information
Son of Arthur and Agnes Stewart Russell; husband of Dorothy Adeline Russell. Malcolm Stephen Osler (known inevitably as 'Bennie' after the famous Springbok rugby player), joined No. 1 South African Air Force Squadron, then flying Hurricanes, in the Western Desert, on 25th June 1941, and was made a Flight Commander. On 30th the Squadron met eight Junkers Ju 87s(1) and eight Messerschmitt Bf 109s(2) and immediately attacked the Stukas. Captain Osler and Lieutenant Ronnie Simpson each destroyed one, before the fighters got at them; Bennie then damaged a Bf 109, but Lieutenant A. S. Russell was lost and presumed killed. On Jeppe High School for Boys Roll of Honour. Commemoration stone in Johannesburg (West Park) Cemetery.