LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Lindsay William WHEELER
Service No: 409807
Born: Melbourne VIC, 30 December 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Metheringham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB347), Germany, 19 September 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Francis and Elsie Wheeler; husband of Mary Victories Wheeler, of West Footscray, Victoria Australia.
Roll of Honour: Footscray VIC
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1910 hours on the night of 19 September 1944 Lancaster PB347 took off from Metheringham detailed to bomb Rheydt. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team report stated “the aircraft exploded in the air and crashed at 2315 hours at Elempt a town some 24 miles south west of Dusseldorf.” Six of the crew members had been killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of PB347 were:
Flying Officer K J Ayres (152914) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Flying Officer Anthony Harley Brindley (150360) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Rex Joseph Chatwin (3050018) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Peter Bernard Feltham (1853244) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Litterick (1589059) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Joseph William Lloyd (153933) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Warrant Officer Lindsay William Wheeler (409807) (Wireless 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, 166/43/865