LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Ralph Alexander WILSON
Service No: 405008
Born: Brisbane QLD, 1 April 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5619), North West Europe, 26 July 1942, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Allan Martin Wilson and Ethel Marjorie Wilson, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0032 hours on the morning of 26 July 1942 Lancaster R5619 took off from Scampton to bomb Duisberg, Germany. The route was via Skegness, Leiden, and Corinchen to Duisberg. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. It was later recorded that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of R5619 were:
Flying Officer Herbert Boyd Barber (J/5686) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Robert Hugh Brash (910235) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Jack William Corfield DFM (128672) (RAFVR) (First Wireless Operator)
Sergeant John McCarten (1326338) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Ernest Arnold Rudge (1100638) (RAFVR) (Second Wireless Operator)
Pilot Officer Harold Hopper Whitehead DFM (48895) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ralph Alexander Wilson (405008) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/178/369