LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Creighton Carlyle OGILVIE

Service No: 403599
Born: Gunnedah NSW, 29 July 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 February 1941
Unit: No. 26 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 26 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft DV703), Germany, 11 September 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Grant Ogilvie and Lena Meta Ogilvie, of Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Gunnedah NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gunnedah Cenotaph, Gunnedah NSW

On the night of 10 September 1942, Wellington DV703 took off from the RAF Station Wing, Buckinghamshire, Satellite airfield armed with 4 x 500 lb (220 kg) bombs, and detailed to attack Dusseldorf, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was attacked from below by a night fighter, whose canon shells severed petrol and oil pipes and set alight to the fuselage. Communication between the crew was impossible as the blaze immediately destroyed the intercom system. Warrant Officer Hedley managed to speak to the skipper who told him to bale out. He did so, though lost consciousness in the process. Out of control, the aircraft hit the ground at around 0015 hours some 500 metres south west of Overhetfeld, on the north west side of Wiederkruchten. Four of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.

The crew members of DV703 were:

Sergeant Jack Wilfred Gardner (1264572) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer L Hedley (1019206) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant John Blake Higginson (R/141503) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer James M’Ilveen (129073) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Creighton Carlyle Ogilvie (403599) (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, 163/148/281
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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