LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Lowell Ernest REEVE
Service No: 405186
Born: Gympie QLD, 18 January 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 February 1941
Unit: No. 243 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 243 Squadron Spitfire aircraft VB857), off the Tunisian Coast, 7 January 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Ernest and Levina Isabel Reeve, of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ipswich QLD
Remembered: Panel 11, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1455 hours on 7 January 1943 Spitfire VB857 was scrambled to intercept an enemy raid on Bone Harbour, Algeria. Pilot Officer Reeve and his leader attacked two enemy aircraft 30 miles north east of Base. The Section then split up and the Leader (Flight Lieutenant Lyons) last heard from Reeve about 20 miles west of Bizerta, Tunisia. In 1948 it was recorded that Pilot Officer Reeve had lost his life at sea.
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, 166/35/4
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002