LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Ronald Owen BRYANT
Service No: 402725
Born: Orange NSW
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 October 1940
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Topcliffe
Died: Air Operations (No. 102 Squadron Whitley aircraft Z6796), North Sea, 8 November 1941, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: on of Samuel and Sarah Bryant; husband of Christina Middleton Bryant, of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Narara NSW
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Batlow War Memorial, Batlow NSW
At 2214 hours on the night of 7 November 1941 Whitley Z6796 took off from Topcliffe to attack Berlin. One QDM bearing (magnetic heading) was given from Horsham St Faith at 0726 hours on 8 November, but then nothing further was heard from the aircraft and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations when no trace of the missing aircraft or crew members was found, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of Z6796 were:
Sergeant Robert Brown (1100635) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Ronald Owen Bryant (402725) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Emerson Master Leftly (R/54056) (RCAF)
Sergeant Reginald Charles Matthews (1167443) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Miller (966385) (RAFVR)
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, 163/93/324
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line