LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Ronald Charles LOWTHER
Service No: 404179
Born: Brisbane QLD, 1 January 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1940
Unit: No. 456 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 456 Squadron Mosquito aircraft DZ308), Brittany Peninsula area, 2 June 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Laurel Lowther, of Newmarket, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1321 hours on 2 June, 1943, Mosquito DZ308 took off on a day Ranger sortie detailed to attack targets at the Cape D’Erquy, Lambelle and Alencon areas in France. The estimated time of the sortie was 2 hours 40 minutes, but DZ308 had not returned to base by 1920 hours and was reported missing. Another aircraft took off on a similar sortie at 1320 hours, but turned back on reaching the coast of France as the crew considered the weather unsuitable for a day Ranger operation, there being broken cloud at only 2,500 feet.
The crew members of DZ308 were:
Pilot Officer Ronald Charles Lowther (404179) (Navigator Radio)
Warrant Officer Vincent Peter Ratcliffe (403373) (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, 166/25/42