LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ronald Oakley SANDELL
Service No: 411608
Born: Goulburn NSW, 30 January 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 May 1941
Unit: No. 154 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 154 Squadron Spitfire aircraft ES170), Tunisia, 29 April 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Tabarka Ras Rajel War Cemetery, Tunisia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick William and Lorna Emelia Sandell, of Killara, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Concord War Memorial, Concord NSW
Brother of Flying Officer David John Sandell (423334)
On 29 April 1943 Spitfire ES170 flying as Yellow 2, took off from Victoria aerodrome at Souk-el-
Khemis together with seven other Spitfires of No. 154 Squadron detailed to patrol the Deja/Medjerda area. When in the vicinity of Cape Serret the engine of ES170 cut out at 23,000 feet, and the aircraft was on fire in the air. Flight Sandell baled out but his parachute became entangled in the mainplane and he was killed in the crash.
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, 163/37/77
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line