LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Ralph James AYERS

Service No: 409881
Born: East Prahran VIC, 1 August 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941
Unit: No. 149 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lakenheath
Died: Air Operations: (No. 149 Squadron Stirling aircraft BK798), North Sea, 20 December 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Tas. Clarke Ayers and Ella Winifred Ayers, of Prahran, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Prahran VIC
Remembered: Panel 192, Runnymede Memorial,, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1720 hours on 20 December 1943 Stirling BK798 took off from Lakenheath for mine laying operations in the Friesian Islands area. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations when no trace of the missing aircraft or crew could be found, it was recorded in 1949 that the crew had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of BK798 were:

Flight Sergeant Ralph James Ayers (409881) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Charles William Maxwell Corkill (422138) (Navigator)
Sergeant Sidney James Lunn (1603982) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant William McAdie (635873) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Vincent Mandy (1238240) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Roddick Martin (R/165286) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Warren Michael Power (R/176903) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/4/84

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