Subject

S.England

Text

Trancendence: I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen:

Inscription

Killed on active service Petworth. 25th June 1944 Second Officer Thomas Maxwell Fisk Air Transport Auxiliary

Description & History

The original design for the Fisk memorial window, signed by Christian Waller, is held in the Australian War Memorial; it is the basis for attribution of the series of designs that fill the aisle windows of All Saints' Chapel, Geelong Grammar School. Following a similar format to other windows in the series, the badge of the Air Transport Auxiliary was placed in the upper section of the light, below 'S.England', (which was simply 'England' in the original design). An emblem representing 'Transcendence' (wings, possibly the phoenix, rising from flames) was placed under the name of Second Officer Fisk. The winged ATA badge was placed centrally in the lower border amidst the stylised floral border of waterlilies.

As part of his engineering course at Sydney University, Fisk gained experience at sea as a Ship's Engineer aboard the Queen Elizabeth, then the Queen Mary. In 1943 he entered the Air Transport Auxiliary which ferried aircraft to destinations across England and Scotland. Despite his poor eyesight he hoped to transfer to an Air Force unit. He was on the Ferry Pool for the invasion forces when he was killed, ferrying a Mustang to the South Coast. He died on 25 June 1944, when his plane entered a dive from which it did not recover. He was commemorated at Golders Green Crematorium.

References & Acknowledgements

James Affleck, Geelong Grammarians at World War Two, The Old Geelong Grammarians Incorporated, Corio, 2002, pp. 25-26; The Corian, August and December 1944.