LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Rex FEAKES
Service No: 422157
Born: Cooma NSW, 22 October 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 466 Squadron, RAF Station Leconfield, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 466 Squadron Wellington aircraft LN288), Belgium, 14 July 1943, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Chievres Communal Cemetery, Chievres, Hainaut, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frank Thomas Feakes and Frieda Anna Feakes, of Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Manly NSW
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Manly ANZAC War Memorial, Manly NSW
One attack was also made on Aachen which contained a large number of small textile and engineering factories but whose chief importance lay in that it was the focus of railway lines leading south-westwards from the Ruhr. On 13th-14th July, No. 466 dispatched fourteen Wellingtons in a force of 374 aircraft which met only weak opposition. The raid began badly but, as fires took hold in the town, the degree of concentration was improved and Australians observed a number of heavy explosions. Their reports were later checked by photographs which showed that almost half of the town was in ruins.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 489
Wellington LN288 took off from RAF Leconfield at 0001 hours on the night of 13/14th July 1943 to bomb Aachen, Germany. A post war investigation by the Missing Research and Enquiry Unit including interrogation of local inhabitants established that the aircraft crashed at Baudour, Belgium, presumably as a result of enemy action. All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of LN288 were:
Sergeant Donald Walpole Covell (1336969) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Francis Cummins (1192627) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Rex Feakes (422157) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant William Alfred Gunning (413856) (Pilot)
Sergeant Herbert Charles Jordan (R/135639) (RCAF) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, `166/13/84
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line