LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Ronald Arthur DOWE
Service No: 423196
Born: Five Dock NSW, 7 May 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 166 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Kirmington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 166 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD397), Germany, 24 December 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Arthur and Edith Gwendoline Victoria Dowe, of Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ashfield NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster PD397 took off from RAF Kirmington at 1450 hours on the afternoon of 24 December, detailed to bomb Cologne, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in the target area with six of the crew killed and one taken prisoner.
The crew members of PD397 were:
Sergeant Leonard Reuben Ayres (1623324) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant John Morgan Barrass (134083) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Bolt (1594020) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Warrant Officer Ronald Arthur Dowe (423196) (Navigator)
Sergeant Sydney Marshall (539072) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant R E McCann (1450055) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Desmond Michael Leonid O’Halloran (422978) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/10/371