LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Raymond Ernest Lee PEATE
Service No: 414425
Born: Sydney NSW, 29 April 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 September 1941 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Little Snoring
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DS680), Belgium, 18 November 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Heverlee War Cemetery, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: on of Ernest Roy and Margaret Mary Peate, of North Adelaide, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1803 hours on the night of 18 November 1943 Lancaster DS680 took off from Little Snoring detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Hermee (Liege), 4 kms south west of Herstal, Belgium. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of DS680 were:
Warrant Officer II Sydney Andrew Anderson (R/70849) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Hugh George Bannister (578325) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Francois Benigne Collenet (1286366) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Neil Mackay (659021) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Raymond Ernest Lee Peate (414425) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Murray Lincoln Richardson (J/19279) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant George Vivian Sharratt (1234786) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Noel Reginald Shaw (160842) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/32/238