LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Richard Robert WHITAKER
Service No: 415291
Born: Geraldton WA, 27 September 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 196 Squadron (RAF), RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 196 Squadron Stirling aircraft EE964), Germany, 6 September 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Richard and Lilian Blanche Whitaker; husband of Margaret Whitaker, of Mosman Park, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Cottesloe WA
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Stirling EE964 took off from RAF Witchford at 2000 hours on the night of 5/6th September 1943, detailed to bomb Mannheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Bachenau near Mannheim, at 0100 hours on the 6th September, 1943. Seven of the crew were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of EE964 were:
Flying Officer Kenneth Arthur Charles Ayling (129173) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Francis Joseph Brown (1081280) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Charles Foster (1331516) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Glynville William Moss (1406740) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant R A Newman (1153836) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Pilot Officer Frederick Norris (147954) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Avon Emrys Gomer Price (1338508) (RAFVR) (Mid Gunner)
Flying Officer Richard Robert Whitaker (415291) (Second 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/43/331