LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Vincent Peter RATCLIFFE
Service No: 403373
Born: Sydney NSW, 8 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 456 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 456 Squadron Mosquito aircraft DZ308), Brittany Peninsula area, 2 June 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Augustine H. and Mary Theresa Ratcliffe, of Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flight Sergeant Peter John Ratcliffe (423325)
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, 166/35/77