LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Ronald WHEATLEY

Service No: 412053
Born: Leamington-on-Tyne, England, 23 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Graveley
Died: Air Operations: (No. 35 Squadron Halifax aircraft HR678), Germany, 15 April 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp-Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Ernest and Mary Elizabeth Wheatley, of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2128 hours on the night of 14 April 1943 Halifax HR678 took off from Graveley to bomb Stuttgart, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was shot down from 18,000 feet by a night fighter.
It was seen approaching the village of Germershein and after circling the village it crashed and exploded on impact. Four of the crew members had been killed and three were taken prisoner.

The crew members of HR678 were:

Flight Sergeant Michael Albert Edward Bradford (411478) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant T L Brown (570690) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant Frederick Hay (1002505) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant T G O’Shaughnessy (1262920) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Flight Sergeant F W Vincent (1174030) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer Ronald Wheatley (412053) (Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Ronald Edward Wilkes DFM (141103) (RAFVR) (Pilot)

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, 166/43/147

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