LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer William Frederick Harvey RATTLE
Service No: 423256
Born: Waverley NSW, 27 October 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 622 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Mildenhall, Suffolk
Died: Air Operations: (No. 622 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL812), Netherlands, 13 June 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Eindhoven (Woensel) General Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Frederick and Emily Alice Rattle; husband of Jean Rattle, of Bondi Junction, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St Stephen’s World War II Memorial Window, Hurlston Park NSW
On the night of 12 June 1944, Lancaster LL812 took off from Mildenhall at 2300 hours detailed to bomb Gelsenkirchen, Germany. 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 exploded in the west of Oirschot (Noord-Brabant), some 13kms south west from the centre of Eindhoven. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LL812 were:
Sergeant Reginald Bramley (2220988) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Martin Dea (1798041) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Richard Paul Percival Holden (429323) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Francis Michael Leaney (632994) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Richard John William Moore (423433) (Navigator)
Flying Officer William Frederick Harvey Rattle (423256) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Walter Richard Tanner (424230) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/35/290
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line