LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Ronald Frederick FEILBERG
Service No: 421192
Born: Balmain NSW, 17 June 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 466 Squadron, RAF Station Driffield, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 466 Squadron Halifax aircraft NP975), Belgium, 22 December 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Hotton War Cemetery, Hotton, Luxembourg, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Carl August William and Mary Ann Feilberg, of Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Drummoyne NSW
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Drummoyne War Memorial, Drummoyne NSW
At Bingen on the 22nd-23rd, 10 out of 12 crews of No. 466 each returned with an aiming point photograph and circumstantial reports of heavy explosions very close to the target marker.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Page 387
Halifax NP975 took off RAF Driffield on the night of 21/22nd December 1944 to bomb marshalling yards at Bingen, Germany. Twelve aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and all returned except NP975. Six of the crew became Prisoners of War and the Pilot was killed.
The crew members of NP975 were:
Sergeant S Chard (1606409) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flying Officer Ronald Frederick Feilberg (421192) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Walter Arthur Ronald Hanson (423109) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 15 November 1945
Flight Sergeant Brian William Horrocks (435497) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 28 November 1945
Flight Sergeant Charles Owen John Scafe (435097) (Rear Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 17 November 1945
Flying Officer Leonard Arthur Walker (419358) (Navigator) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 19 December 1945
Flying Officer Arthur Wood (429367) (Bomb Aimer) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 12 November 1946
In 1945 the then Flight Lieutenant Walker reported “The plane was shot down by a JU88 height 17,000 feet. Two port engines and port wing were on fire. Order to abandon given within one minute of being hit. All acknowledged. Nil injuries except Captain who did not get out. Body found by Germans in tail of aircraft. I baled out first at 7000 feet, over ground 4,000 feet high. Aircraft getting out of control due to port tail fin and middle shot away. Aircraft crashed near St Vith, Belgium. Landed in forward Army camp of German Army and captured after landing. Liberated 2 April 1945.”
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, 166/13/371
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line