LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Reginald Ross HELY
Service No: 403811
Born: Wagga Wagga NSW, 10 January 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 March 1941
Unit: Central Gunnery School (RAF), RAF Station Sutton Bridge
Died: Aircraft Accident (Central Gunnery School Wellington aircraft N2865), near Sutton Bridge, 10 April 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Houghton and Wyton Burial Ground, Huntingdonshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Norman and Florence Beatrice Hely, of Hamilton, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wagga Wagga NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Commonwealth Bank of Australia World war II Honour Rolls, Sydney NSW
Remembered: Victory memorial Gardens Cenotaph, Wagga Wagga NSW
On 10 April 1943 Wellington N2865 took off from RAF Central Gunnery School, Sutton Bridge, detailed to carry out an exercise with a Spitfire with the fighter doing various quarter attacks on the bomber and the bomber taking full evasive action. During the exercise the Wellington and Spitfire collided at 1035 hours and both aircraft crashed 2 miles south west of Wyton, Cheshire. The crew of 6 on board N2865 were killed and the Spitfire pilot although injured successfully baled out of his aircraft.
The crew members of N2865 were:
Sergeant Charles Ronald Archer (1113141) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Eric Cooke (742967) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner Instructor)
Flight Sergeant Clifford Harrison (1000251) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Reginald Ross Hely (403811) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Terence Cathcart Stanbury (42271) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer John Alfred Town (J/16172) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
The pilot of the Spitfire aircraft was:
Flying Officer Ernest Hamilton Griffith (403334) Killed in an Aircraft Accident: 29 September 1943
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, 166/17/101
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line