LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Frederick Walter WHEELER
Service No: 400575
Born: Birchip VIC, 30 June 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 September 1940
Unit: No. 72 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 72 Operational Training Unit Blenheim aircraft E7628), Egypt, 17 December 1941, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sydney Proctor Wheeler and Lilian Grace Wheeler, of Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Merrinee VIC
Remembered: Column 246, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2115 hours on 17 December 1941 Blenheim E7628 took off on a cross country training flight in the Red Sea Hills area. Messages were received from the aircraft at 2149, 2201 and 2235 hours, but the aircraft ceased to transmit after that and failed to return to base. The cross country flight was from Wadi Gazouza to Sollum Junction to Ras Asis and back to Wadi Gazouza. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of E7628 were:
Flight Sergeant William Armour (755697) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Claude Raisin Freeman (748023) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Peter Patrick Hussey (1251148) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Flying Officer Alexander Gordon Smith (J/3118) (RCAF) (Observer)
Sergeant Frederick Walter Wheeler (400575) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
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, 163/177/187