Watson, Rex

Rex Wyndham Watson

Flight Lieutentant - 404714

452 Squadron

Rex was born in the U.K. at Woolacombe, North Devon 17 Oct 1909 (see below paragraph 9), and migrated to Australia in 1929 at the age of twenty.

Events in Europe and the threat to England motivated him to join the RAAF and he applied for reserve enlistment in May, 1940. He was granted permanent enlistment on 8 November of that year. Determined to be accepted as a pilot, Rex used the intervening period to study hard and upgrade his educational qualifications.

He joined 2 Initial Training School on 11 November at Bradfield Park, Sydney with this course being successfully completed at the end of January, 1941. Flying training commenced at 4 EFTS at Mascot on 6 February and continued with his Service Flying Training at Urinquinty near Wagga until completion on

21 August, 1941. Along with many other newly trained pilots and ground staff Rex was destined to be posted to the U.K. for further training, embarking on 15 October, 1941 and arriving there on 21 December.

Photo: Rex posing with his aircraft and "Jiminy Cricket".

During January and February, 1942 he took part in Advanced Flying Training on Miles Masters and then joined 53 Operations Training Unit for conversion to Spitfires. On 19 May he was posted to 457 Squadron stationed at Red Hill.  This squadron was part of No. 11 Group operating in the south east of England. Rex's service record states that he flew just over thirteen hours in Spitfires at this time including a number of sorties over Europe.

Rex returned to Australia aboard the "Stirling Castle" in August, 1942, disembarking in Melbourne with other members of 457 Squadron as well as personnel from 452 and 54 (RAF) Squadrons. Only six of the original Spitfires sent with the group landed with them, the others having been diverted en route. His next posting was to Camden, N.S.W. and when the full complement of Spitfires arrived in Australia in late 1942, Rex became a member of No. 1 Fighter Wing which was formed by the amalgamation of 452, 457 and 54 (RAF) Squadrons. He was then posted to the Northern Territory in early 1943 with 457 Squadron taking over the airstrip at Livingstone on the Stuart Highway south of Darwin. At this time, 1 February, 1943 Rex was promoted to Flight Sergeant and continued with this rank until 1 May,1943 when he received his commission and was promoted to Pilot Officer.

Rex's first engagement with Japanese aircraft over Darwin took place on 15 March, 1943 when he shot down a Zero fighter of 202nd NAG. On 9 May, 1943 Rex together with five pilots and six ground crew of 457 Squadron were sent to Millingimbi Island after it was attacked that morning by Japanese aircraft. On the following day during another substantial attack, Rex was again successful this time destroying a Zero and damaging another. In later engagements he was credited with one damaged and one shared destroyed.

He was promoted to Flying Officer on 1 November, 1943 and in January, 1944 he was transferred out of 457 Squadron and posted to 2 Operations Training Unit and later to 8 OTU as an instructor on Wirraways. He remained in this role until January, 1945. In April of that year he was posted to Morotai where he joined 452 Squadron as a Flight Lieutenant. He returned from Balikpapan on 3 August, 1945 and received his discharge from the RAAF on 19 December, 1945.

At the time of his leaving the RAAF Rex had a tally of 887 flying hours including twenty-five sorties (161 hours) with 457 Squadron and 2 sorties (14 hours) with 452 Squadron. His combat record was two destroyed, one shared destroyed and two damaged.

Rex maintained he had a couple of wins over "the system" as well. During his initial recruitment he was able to conceal from the medical officer a serious knee injury caused by a motorcycle accident in W.A. before the war. Further, he got away with reducing his age by the extraordinary amount of five years. On enlistment he gave his date of birth as 17 October, 1914 when in fact he was born in 1909. Jim Grant, in his comprehensive account of 457 Squadron's actions in the Northern Territory "Spitfires Over Darwin 1943" states that Rex, assumed age twenty-eight, was "The old man of the team". In fact Rex achieved his combat record at the ripe old age for a fighter pilot of thirty-three.

Reproduction of recruitment advertisement

with Rex Watson photo.

Another interesting aspect of Rex's service in Spitfires was the amount of media attention he seemed to attract. Whether it was the Errol Flynn moustache, black hair and dark penetrating eyes that did the trick for him is not known but photos of him appeared in a number of newspapers and articles. One showing him sitting in the cockpit of his plane "Jiminy Cricket" and taken by the Department of Air on 5 March, 1943 was used in an RAAF recruitment poster. A newspaper article written in The Sunday Mail, 16 May, 1943 describes Rex's actions at Millingimbi ( See below).

"Flight-Sergeant Rex. Watson, of Lismore ,N.S.W. got one certain kill and another damaged in 10 minutes fight at 11,000 ft.

Watson said: 'When I was airborne someone called out that there was a Zero on my tail. I looked out and saw three Zeros - then six Zeros.

I looked again and there were nine Zeros. I wasn't game to look again.

I made a quarter attack on the first Zero, and got him with a two seconds' burst. Black smoke began to pour out, and I watched him spin practically to the sea. Another Zero came by on my starboard wing. I half-rolled, climbed for position, and saw three or four Zeros milling about. Then I spotted another Zero ahead, and I pulled up at the vertical and got in a burst. I saw part of the mainplane fall off'"

Discharged 19/12/1945.

As his nephew Brian Kille said, "Sadly, Rex's life after the war was difficult for him and a year or so after his discharge he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress and this contributed in so many ways to his untimely death, aged fifty years on 27 August, 1959".

Credits

Brian Kille (Rex Watson's nephew)

Brian also wishes to acknowledge the assistance provided by members of the Spitfire Association in particular Ron Lambert who generously supplied several photos related to 457 Squadron in the U K and The Northern Territory

The Spitfire Association.