The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (432191) Flying Officer James Magnus Inkster, No. 467 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (432191) Flying Officer James Magnus Inkster, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

432191 Flying Officer James Magnus Inkster, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Flying Battle 2 February 1945

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer James Magnus Inkster.

James Inkster was born on 8 June 1922 in the Sydney suburb of Queenscliff, the son of Laurence and Catherine Inkster. His father was a sailor. Growing up he had two brothers, Laurence and Victor.

James attended Manly Boys’ Intermediate High School, and afterwards found work as an apprentice lithograph printer with S.T. Leigh and Co. Having served three months with the Sydney University Regiment, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 5 December 1942, aged 20.

Inkster began training as a pilot, and in September 1943 he received his flying badge and was made a sergeant. He embarked for overseas service from Sydney on 13 October 1943, arriving in the United Kingdom in November. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme he was one of almost 27,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers, who joined Australian and British squadrons in Britain throughout the course of the war.

Further specialist training followed in England, and on 4 October 1944 Inkster was commissioned as a pilot officer. The following January he was posted to No. 467 Squadron, RAAF. With experience flying Wirraways, Oxford bombers, Wellingtons, and Stirlings, he was now flying the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On the night of 2 February Bomber Command mounted a slew of raids on targets in Germany, launching 1,200 aircraft. Some 250 were sent to bomb the town of Karlsruhe in Germany. No. 467 Squadron committed 19 aircraft, and Flying Officer Inkster was the pilot of Lancaster “PO-J”, which took off from the Royal Air Force Base at Waddington at 7.51 pm.

Two of the squadron’s Lancasters never returned, including Inkster’s. It was later revealed that the aircraft had been shot down near the village of Karlsdorf, 12 miles east of the target. Also on board were Australians Pilot Officer Allan Pearce, Warrant Officer Bertram Weber, and Flight Sergeants Frederick Bean, Frank Everatt, and Phillip Carter, along with British airmen Flight Lieutenant Noel Colley and Sergeant Dennis Howdle.

The bodies of the crews were recovered by the Germans and buried in a communal grave at the Karlsdorf Cemetery. After the war the remains of Commonwealth servicemen buried in Europe were examined and identified where possible. Inkster’s body was identified, and he was reinterred with his crewmates some 270 kilometres away at the Durnbach War Cemetery, under the inscription: “In loving memory of our gallant son and brother.”

He was 22 years old.

James’s brother, Victor, also served in the RAAF, with No. 10 Squadron. He survived the war and returned home safely.

Flying Officer James Inkster’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from 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 James Magnus Inkster, and all those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section