LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Raymond Stuart NELSON
Service No: 421667
Born: 14 February 1921, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 February 1942
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wyton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB459), Germany, 27 November 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Horatio Victor and Nancie Jean Nelson, of Grenfell, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Forbes NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1737 hours on the night of 26 November 1943 Lancaster took off from Wyton detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported “the aircraft crashed near the village of Seelenberg, which is about 16 miles north west of Frankfurt, Germany.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of JB459 were:
Sergeant Reginald Alan Frederick Gillam (1211980) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Raymond Stuart Nelson (421667) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Victor William Joseph Nunn (141403) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Augustus William Savory (988963) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Matthew Smalley DFC (51893) (RAF) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Alexander Bruce Smeaton (122579) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Scrimglow Walton (654069) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
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, 166/29/46