LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Robert James REED
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 40059 (RAF)
Born: Birth registered Boulder WA 1914
Enlisted in the RAF: 1937
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lindholme
Died: Air Operations (No. 50 Squadron Hampden I aircraft L4097), off the Belgian Coast, 10 September 1940, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Ostende New Communal Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Ellen Kingston Reed, of Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Battle of Britain Memorial, Westminster Abbey, London UK
Flight Lieutenant Reed was an Australian Cadet trained for the RAF who embarked for the UK on 26 July 1937.
On 10 September 1940, Hampden L4097 took off from took off from Lindholme at 1956 hours to attack Ostend, Belgium. The aircraft was shot down into the sea off Oostende. The bodies of both pilots were recovered while the other crew members are missing.
The crew members of L4097 were:
Sergeant Reginald Halls (632830) (RAF) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant William Aubrey Johnson (635088) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Robert James Reed (40059) (RAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Peter William Roylance (42889) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
References:
Chorley, W.R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 1 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1939-1940, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1992
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/54/36
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990