LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Raymond Julian HELLING
Service No: 416426
Born: Burra SA, 11 April 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1941
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit, RAAF Station Williamtown NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Beaufighter aircraft A19-41), Gloucester area NSW, 8 November 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Juliane and Edith Helling, of Yankalilla, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 5, Sydney Memorial, Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On 8 November 1941, Beaufighter A19-41 took off on a night cross country training flight on a route from Williamtown – Tamworth – Dubbo and back to Williamtown. The weather forecast some thunderstorms with a cloud base of 1,000 feet and visibility of 10 miles. Four aircraft took off at approximately 2130 to 2330 hours, and as the weather appeared to be deteriorating around Dubbo, the aircraft were ordered to return to base. A19-41 answered the recall signal but due to atmospheric conditions the reply could not be understood. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. A Volunteer Air Observers Corps report in the Gloucester area indicated that there was an aircraft in the vicinity for quite a while about the time A19-41 should have reported to base. Air and ground searches were conducted but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew was found.
The crew members of A19-41 were:
Flight Lieutenant Raymond Julian Helling (416426) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Victor Winston Partridge (443265) (Navigator)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 13
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990