LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Ralph Callister HALKYARD DFC
Service No: 409694
Born: Calcutta, India, 29 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 22 May 1945 (No. 7 Squadron RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NG229), Germany, 4 April 1945, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Becklingen War Cemetery, Soltau, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Francis Halkyard and Alice Halkyard, of Canterbury, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Camberwell VIC
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1955 hours on the night of 4 April 1945 Lancaster NG229 took off from Oakington to mark the Rhenania oil plant at Harburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Post war enquiries by a Missing Research and Enquiry Unit established that the aircraft crashed after exploding in the air from a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire. Wreckage fell over a wide are on the north bank of the Elbe near the main Hamburd-Harburd railway bridge.
All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of NG229 were:
Pilot Officer Edward Kenneth Coyne DFC (J/94267) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Herbert William Ellis (1395466) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Henry Minns (1893981) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Harold Thomas Evans (419168) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Ralph Callister Halkyard DFC (409694) (Navigator)
Flying Officer S C Haralambides DFC (187235) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Barry Simon Herridge Wadham DFC (179945) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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, 166/17/1122