LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Ronald Eldred RICHARDS
Service No: 412188
Born: Coogee NSW, 12 September 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 June 1940
Unit: No. 31 Operational Training Unit (RAF), Debert, Nova Scotia
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 31 Operational Training Unit Hudson aircraft FH317), near Dorval, Quebec, 22 July 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Montreal (Mount Royal) Cemetery, Quebec
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Eldred Edwin and Annie Elsie Richards; husband of Nellie Cecelia Richards, of Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Earlwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Leichhardt Memorial, Leichardt NSW
At 1123 hours on 22 July 1942, Hudson FH317 took off from Dorval Airport on a training flight. The aircraft crashed at 1133 hours five miles west of the airport and all on board were killed.
The crew members of FH317 were:
Sergeant John Lionel Anderson (411724) (Observer under Instruction)
Sergeant Brian Joseph Burdon-Murphy (R/106532) (RCAF) (Observer under instruction)
Pilot Officer Francis Gabriel McInnis (J/72894) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner under instruction)
Flight Lieutenant John Kingsley Rhodes (78537) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald Eldred Richards (412188) (Observer under instruction)
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, 163/157/176
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Christie, C.A. (Carl Andrew) Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command, University of Toronto Press Toronto Canada, 1995