LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Robert James RATCLIFFE
Service No: 413032
Born: Alpine NSW, 12 April 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED992), Germany, 11 August 1943, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph Richard Leonard and Louisa Ratcliffe, of Alpine, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mittagong NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Mittagong and District War Memorial, Mittagong NSW
At 2142 hours on the night of 10 August 1943 Lancaster ED992 took off from Scampton detailed to bomb Nuremburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Rummelsberg, 4 kms north north west of Bad Tolz and 18 kms east south east of Durnbach and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ED992 were:
Pilot Officer John Frank Broadbent (52829) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Aaron Burns (155579) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Alan St John Floyd (1384586) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Raymond Kenneth Garment (1320205) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Gordon Cecil Major (1336854) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant George Pettefar (1499191) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Robert James Ratcliffe (413032) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Hay Wilson (120627) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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, 166/35/121
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line