LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Raymond Arthur KELLEY
Service No: 1432
Born: Sydney NSW, 16 March 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 June 1939 (at RAAF Station Laverton VIC)
Unit: No. 30 Squadron, Ward’s Strip, PNG
Died: Air Operations: (No. 1 Rescue and Communication Squadron Seagull aircraft A2-19), Jacquinot Bay, 11 September 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Arthur and Bertha Francis Kelley; husband of Edith Kelley, of Hamilton, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Hamilton NSW
Remembered: Panel 34, Rabaul Memorial, PNG
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 11 September 1943, Seagull A2-19 went missing on a flight from Kiriwina to Cape Beechy. The crew members were:
Flying Officer Ronald George Bonython (416822) (Pilot) No. 1 Rescue and Communication Squadron
Flying Officer Raymond Arthur Kelley (1432) (Navigator) No. 30 Squadron
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 A705, 166/22/116
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