CHEATLE, Raey Hilton
| Service Number: | 432755 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 30 January 1943 |
| Last Rank: | Flight Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia, 11 July 1924 |
| Home Town: | Bankstown, Bankstown, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Flying Battle, Netherlands, 8 February 1945, aged 20 years |
| Cemetery: |
Eindhoven (Woensel) General Cemetery, Netherlands Grave RR30 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, International Bomber Command Centre Memorial, Maryborough No. 3 Wireless Air Gunners' School Memorial Wall |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Flight Sergeant, 432755 | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Jan 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 432755 |
Help us honour Raey Hilton Cheatle's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Riny van de Pol
Raey Hilton Cheatle was a flight sergeant in the RAF. On the 7 of february 1945 the Lancaster airplane ND961 of which Raey was the wireless operator, went on a mission witj 177 other allied aircrafts to bomb a waterway junction in Ladbergen Germany. On their way back his plane collided with an other RAF Lancaster above already liberated Holland. Raey and all the other crew members did not survied the crash. Raey, 20 years of age, is burried in Woensel (Eindhoven) cemetery Holland.
Biography contributed by Riny van de Pol
In february 2020, at the Sonseweg 39 near the village Son en Breugel in the south of the Netherlands a monument has been eracted, to commemorate the crash of the 2 lancaster bombers ND961and PB181. Both belonged to No. 5 group bomber command. At approximately 00.30 hours they collided on their way back from a bombing mission above the Sonse heath between the villages of Best and Son en Breugel. ND961 crashed near the Zandstraat in Son en Breugel, PB 181 crashed the Lisseven in Best.
Only the pilot of PB181, flight lieutenant A.P. Weber survived by parachute the collision. All other 15 members died in that early morning of he 8 of february 1945.
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