[3][4] Truscott enlisted at the age of 24, a day after his team Melbourne defeated Richmond and with five rounds of football remaining for the year.

who immediately came into the play, dashingly gathering the ball round the wing and on the angle popping it through for Melbourne’s seventh goal" a match they won by three points.

Anticipating Truscott's return, the Melbourne Football Club delayed the traditional unfurling of their Premiership flag at the start of the season for the match.

[12] Prior to the match, John Wren, one of the country's most notorious racketeers, gifted Truscott with a cheque for £1,000 to share with Paddy Finucane.

[13][14] Truscott worked as a teacher before becoming a clerk at Vestey Group business W. Angliss & Co., where he had also secured a job for his old friend from Melbourne High School Old Boys Association and Lord Somers Camp, Stan Bisset.

Bisset later recalled that he and Truscott were thinking deeply about the war and that people were giving up everything to participate; they had an intense patriotic feeling towards Britain and decided that it was up to them to not to wait for the enemy to come but rather to fight where they had a better chance of winning, "and so that's what we did".

On the squadron's return to RAF Kenley, Truscott's close friend and crew member Clive 'Bardie' Wawn DFC called him "a bastard, [for] shooting at that Jerry".

[24] Truscott destroyed at least 16 Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109s, was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (invested to him by King George VI),[25] and was promoted to acting squadron leader in January 1942.

However, as a fighter ace with some 22 aerial victories, he was well regarded by the Germans, who with the consent of Hermann Göring, agreed to Bader's request to allow the English to parachute in a replacement leg.

[29] Truscott was promoted to Commanding Officer in June 1942 before being posted back to the RAAF in Australia after the Bombing of Darwin, and he joined No.

[32] However, the Minister for Air was publicly forced to review the policy, resulting in a landmark case that saw all pilots able to retain their original ranks.

75 and 76 Squadrons fired 196,000 rounds and wore out 300 gun barrels against ground targets, raking the palm trees at low-levels for snipers.

[34] With Japanese troops less than five kilometres from the airstrip, Truscott's pilots were ordered to evacuate to Port Moresby to protect their assets.

His devil-may-care swagger, fiery red mop of hair on which a Melbourne Cricket Club cap was usually perched, and infectious smile just couldn't fail to inspire confidence in others.

[39] One night in January 1943, Truscott intercepted three bombers head-on over Darwin and, with just one gun operating effectively, shot down a Betty Mitsubishi G4M.

[42] Two days later, Truscott and his wingman, Pilot Officer Ian Loudon (later promoted to squadron leader, and awarded the DFC),[43] sighted PBY Catalina 101-P-1 from Fleet Air Wing 10 in the distance.

[47] The Melbourne Football Club's award for the best and fairest player is named in his honour: the "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy.

[48] At Melbourne High School, a scholarship is awarded in his name to a student displaying all-round achievement in academic, sporting, and extra-curricular activities.

In February 1942 Truscott participated in attack on destroyer which left damaged condition black smoke issuing behind bridge.

The courage and determination displayed by the members of your Squadron contributed materially to the defeat and to the eventual withdrawal of the Japanese from this area.

16 October 1942, George Kenney, Major General, Commander NB: Squadron records from Milne Bay indicate 220 sorties were flown comprising 340 flying hours, of which Truscott flew 60 hours.Truscott's war service was acknowledged by the following medals:[32]