LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Ronald Stephen SEAMAN DFM
Service No: 417898
Born: McLaren Vale SA, 21 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 464 Squadron, RAF Thorney Island, Hampshire
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM)
Died: Air Operations (No. 464 Squadron Mosquito aircraft NS890), Germany, 2 February 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Eli Semmens Seaman and Ethel Maud Seaman, of McLaren Vale, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: McLaren Vale SA
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
At 0445 hours on 2 February 1945 Mosquito NS890 took off from RAF Thorney Island, being part of a force of 17 aircraft from the Squadron detailed to bomb and strafe targets in the Ruhr area behind the battle area. NS 890 failed to return from the mission. In a later report by a Missing Research & Enquiry Unit it stated that the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed in woods near Boenninghardt near the border of Holland and about 10 kms north of Geldern, Germany. Both crew members were killed
The crew members of NS890 were:
Pilot Officer John Hamilton Carter DFM (423636) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Ronald Stephen Seaman DFM (417898) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/37/721
Bibliography:
Lax, M. (Mark) and Leon Kane-Maguire The Gestapo Hunters: 464 Squadron RAAF 1942-5, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 1999
Vincent, D. (David) Mosquito Monograph: A history of Mosquitoes in Australia and RAAF operations, David Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1982