LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Raymond Charles FLEMING
Service No: 413113
Born: Waverley NSW, 28 February 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941
Unit: No. 101 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 101 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED697), North Sea, 9 July 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Claude Edgar and Marie Ethel Fleming; husband of Heather Olive Fleming, of Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 187, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ED697 took off from Ludford Magna at 2222 hours on the night of 8 July 1943, on an operational flight over Cologne. The ETA at base was 0404 hours on 9 July. At 0045 hours it was last heard on radio calling for assistance and a position of 0540N 00045E fixed. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft and it did not return to base. After post war enquiries and investigations which revealed no trace of the missing aircraft or crew, it was recorded in 1950 that the missing crew had no known grave.
The crew members of ED697 were:
Sergeant John Gerald Barrett (932772) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Sidney Robert Conneff (1085201) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flight Lieutenant Raymond Charles Fleming (413113) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer II John William Johnson (R/117549) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick William Albert Powell (1391524) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Arthur Albert Sharman (1329764) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Donald Arthur Stevenson (929350) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 166/13/83
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line