FLIGHTPATH|59Twenty-seven-year old Fletcher and 22-
year old Raw, both Victorians, volunteered
for numerous flights to Warsaw and were
amongthefewtosurvivemultipletripsto
the city. Fletcher’s citation for his DFC
states,‘Thesuccessobtainedonallthese
occasionsisafinetributetohisskill,cour-
age and fortitude. This officer has rendered
valuable service.’
Coincidentally, they had trained together in
SouthernRhodesia(Zimbabwe)in1941,in-
structed together in Egypt, and were eventu-
allypostedto178Squadrontogether.Inanin-
teresting twist of fate, both would also marry
women named Dorothy. In an issue of the
RAAF Gazette, they are described as ‘service
twins’ living in ‘remarkable parallel’ during the
war. Raw would continue an impressive career,
includingserviceinVietnam,andachievedthe
rankofaircommodore.Fletchermovedbackto
Rhodesia with his wife after the war.
ThreeAustralianairmendiedduringthe
operations over Poland. All were Victorians
–SquadronLeaderJohnLiversidge(178
Squadron), Warrant Officer Murray Baxter
(178 Squadron) and Flight Sergeant Alexan-
derBennett(148‘SpecialDuties’Squadron
RAF). The Commander-in-Chief of the Pol-
ishAirForcewrotelettersofcondolenceto
their families. In more recent times, memori-
als and acknowledgements have been erect-
ed for all three in Poland which illustrates
the impact their sacrifice continues to have.John Liversidge was heavily involved in
bombing raids over France, Greece, Crete
and Yugoslavia. On the fatal flight to War-
sawon16August1944,theLiberatorMk.VI
(KG933)hewasnavigatingwasshotdown
nearKrakowbyaGermannightfighter.
Two other crewmembers were killed, an-
othertwobecameprisonersofwar,while
another Australian, Hammet, evaded cap-
ture.Thisnightwasaparticularlychalleng-
ing one for the aircraft trying to deliver sup-
pliesandPeterRaw’sLiberatorwastheonly
onetosuccessfullydeliveritscargo.
Liversidgewas31yearsoldandaschool
teacherbeforethewar.Heoriginallyjoined
theArmybeforedischargingtoenlistin
the RAAF. His younger brother, Eric, died
in November 1944 while serving with Z
Special Force.
In1986,aplaquededicatedtothecrewof
KG933 was erected near Oscar Schindler’s
factoryinKraków.Mostrecently,tocom-
memorate the service and sacrifice of these
airmen, students from the Jagiellonian Uni-
versitystartedthe‘MuralLiberator’project.
They are currently raising money to have a
streetartmuralinstalledthisyearto‘pay
homage to their heroes’.
Murray Baxter was 23 years old when he
waskilledafterdroppingsuppliesoverWar-
saw the day before Liversidge was lost. Bax-
terwasflyinghissecondsupplyoptothe
city and the pilot of Liberator Mk.VI EW264sion,supplieswerereleasedwellbefore
reachingthecityjusttosavethecrewand
aircraft. Crews apparently looked carefully
for lights illuminated in the shape of the
CrossofLorraine,auniversalsymbolofre-
sistance,todroptheirsupplies.
ALiberatorunit,178SquadronRAF,was
oneofthosetaskedwithsupplydropsover
Poland.FlightLieutenantErnestFletcher
andFlyingOfficerPeterRawweretwoAus-
traliansservingwiththesquadronwhose
daring,courageandcommitmenttomulti-
pleoperationsduringtheAirliftearned
them both the Distinguished Flying Cross
andthePolishCrossofValour.Betweenthe
Polish, South Africans, British Common-
wealth and the Americans, almost 200 sup-
ply sorties were flown to Warsaw. Barely
fifty percent of them were successful and
more than 360 Allied airmen were lost over
the two months.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT:
Astudio portrait of Alexander Bennett during
his aircrew training.[Courtesy of the Australian War
Memorial P01832.001]
One of the Polish Cross of Valour (Krzyż Waleczynch)
Medals, unnamed as issued, held by the AWM.
[Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial RELAWM14839]
PeterRawinaVampireinJune1952.Hecommanded
theRAAF’sirstalljetbomberunit,2Squadron,
when it converted from Lincolns to Canberras.
[Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial MALTA0003]