John Verdun Newton

John Verdun (Jack) Newton (12 April 1916 – 14 January 1944) was elected to the Parliament of Western Australia, while serving as a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot in Europe, during World War II. Newton won the seat of Greenough at the 1943 State election, but was killed in action 55 days later.

While other members of Australian parliaments have simultaneously been military personnel, Newton's tenure as Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Greenough was unusual because he was:
 * both nominated and elected while he was overseas;
 * probably the only serving Australian parliamentarian to fly on combat operations during World War II, and;
 * never sworn in, or able to sit in Parliament, because he was killed in action.

Civilian life and political career
Jack Newton was the son of Mary Elizabeth (neé Doyle) and Edward Henry Newton, who were farmers at Mingenew.

As World War II broke out, Newton and his three brothers were working as sharefarmers, growing wheat. He was a member of the Wheat and Woolgrowers' Union (an association of small-scale farmers aligned to the political left) and had reportedly also been a member of the Australian Workers' Union.

When a State election was announced for 20 November 1943, Newton was pre-selected as the Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate for Greenough. He reportedly made his formal nomination by cable from London. Newton was elected with 52.81% (1,944 of 3,733 votes cast) of the first preferences, defeating the incumbent, William Patrick junior of the Country Party. Greenough became one of two seats in the lower house gained by the ALP as it retained government.

Towards the end of 1943, Newton took part in a BBC Radio Overseas Service, program Calling Australian Towns, giving a speech that he styled as an address to his constituents in Greenough. (See box, left.)

Newton was officially listed as "missing in action" following a mission on 14 January 1944. On 27 September 1945, the seat of Greenough was officially declared vacant. A by-election was held on 27 October 1945. The Labor candidate was Jack Newton's brother, Cecil Newton, who was defeated by the Liberal nominee, David Brand. (A veteran of the North African and Greek campaigns with the Australian Army, Brand later became Premier and retained Greenough until he retired in 1975.)

It was not unusual at the time for legislators around the world to enter military service. In some Commonwealth parliaments that followed the Westminster system, there was a convention that if a Member of Parliament (MP) enlisted during wartime, they would be assigned a "pair": the party opposite would voluntarily withdraw one member from voting in parliament. And some other legislators had, like Newton, been elected while on active service.

Many other members of the Western Australian Parliament have died in office, and one other MP has been killed in action: Bart Stubbs (MLA for Subiaco) died during World War I, while serving with the Australian Army in Belgium. However, Jack Newton's case is extremely unusual because he was killed in action before he could take part in a parliamentary sitting.

War service
In 1941, Newton was called up and enlisted in the Citizen Air Force (as the RAAF reserve was known) on 17 August, with the service number 415270. After training as a pilot at No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School (9 EFTS; RAAF Cunderdin) and No. 4 Service Flying Training School (4 SFTS; RAAF Geraldton), Newton was awarded his pilot's "wings" on 15 May 1942.

During World War II, the Australian Defence Act prevented reservists and conscripts from serving outside the South West Pacific. Newton, however, volunteered for frontline service in Europe under the Empire Air Training Scheme and was re-enlisted in the Permanent Air Force. He was posted to the United Kingdom for operational training with the Royal Air Force (RAF). For several months, Newton trained for night bombing with four-engined heavy bombers at No. 11 OTU (at RAF Oakley, Buckinghamshire).

In late October 1943, Newton was promoted to flight lieutenant and posted to an elite, target-marking Pathfinder unit, No. 90 Squadron RAF, at RAF Tuddenham in Suffolk. He captained Short Stirlings during raids on Germany, including raids on Kassel, Frankfurt and Bremen. His commanding officer at 90 Sqn, Wing Commander J. H. Giles, described Newton as: "An above average Officer who is an excellent leader of men."

In a newspaper interview published in early November 1943, Newton mentioned that the other members of his original crew had been killed, while flying with another pilot. He said that he expected to complete a tour (usually 30 sorties) "by Christmas", suggesting that he was flying on three or four operations per week.

During November, Newton was transferred to No. 7 Squadron RAF, an Avro Lancaster Pathfinder unit, at RAF Oakington in Cambridgeshire. On 14 January 1944, he was the captain of a Lancaster B.III (JA905), squadron code "MG-V", which took off from Oakington at 16:53, to bomb targets in Braunschweig (Brunswick), in Lower Saxony. Newton was the only member of the RAAF on board; the rest of the crew were RAF personnel.

The raid, part of the so-called "Battle of Berlin", was the Allies' first major bombing operation against Braunschweig; it was intended that 498 RAF Bomber Command aircraft would attack targets in and around Braunschweig, including two Messerschmitt factories. A relatively direct route was chosen and the Pathfinders were detected by German radar at an early stage of the evening. Night fighters, using the new Zahme Sau ("Tame Sow") tactic, were directed accurately at the bombers by Luftgau-Kommando XI (LgK XI; "Air District Command 11") in Hanover. A total of 38 Lancasters were lost that night including 11 Pathfinders, which hampered targeting for the other bombers, and no damage was done to the primary targets. "The raid", according to historian Martin Middlebrook, "was a minor disaster".



JA905 was one of the aircraft that did not return and its crew were all reported missing. There was uncertainty for many years over their fate. Following the war, the RAF established that JA905 and another Lancaster B.III from the same squadron (JA935; "MG-O") had both crashed north west of Braunschweig. Both aircraft experienced massive explosions, which made the remains of the aircraft and their crews unidentifiable.

German researchers now suggest that JA905 was a Lancaster attacked over Schwarmstedt by night fighters. This bomber was reportedly damaged several times by the fighters, before it caught fire. "The Lancaster", according to Aviation Research Neustadt, "lost height and completed a 180 degree turn. It seems that the pilot tried to force-land in a field... But the dive was too steep and the speed too high..." The aircraft was almost certainly still carrying a full bomb load: it descended rapidly (from about 6,000 feet/1,900 metres) and exploded violently as it hit the ground, in a field between Warmeloh and Hope,  about four miles (6.5 km) due south of Schwarmstedt. According to Aviation Research Neustadt: "Most of the roofs and windows in the village of Hope were damaged by the blast".

The crew was initially buried at the crash site, along with what remained of the wreckage. Following the end of the war, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission reinterred their remains at its Hannover War Cemetery.