LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Raymond Edgar HOLGATE
Service No: 403338
Born: Hunters Hill NSW, 17 August 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 10941
Unit: No. 71 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 71 Operational Training Unit Harvard aircraft AJ808), Sudan, 29 October 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Khartoum War Cemetery, Sudan
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Christopher Edgar and Millicent Emma Holgate, of Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mosman NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Knox Grammar School Old Boys’ War Memorial, Wahroonga NSW
At 1100 hours on the 29 October 1942, Harvard AJ808 collided with Harvard AJ803 and both aircraft crashed some three miles north of Summit. Flying Officer Holgate, the pilot of AJ808, baled out of his aircraft but was killed when his parachute failed to open. Pilot Officer Hayes, the pilot of AJ803, successfully baled out and was not injured.
The Pilots were:
Flying Officer Raymond Edgar Holgate (403338) (Pilot Harvard AJ808) Baled out, killed
Pilot Officer Edwin Sautelle Hayes (405178) (Pilot Harvard AJ803) Baled out, uninjured, Killed on Air Operations: 12 January 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, 163/36/213
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002