Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Service: Royal Australian Air Force

Service Number: 414966

Enlisted: 6 December 1941, Brisbane, Queensland

Last Rank:  Flight Officer

Last Unit:  No. 10 Squadron (RAAF)

Home Town: Ivanhoe, Banyule, Victoria

Occupation:  Carpenter / Shift Engineer at Cuthberts Gold Mines, Misima Island PNG

Died:  Killed in Action (flying battle), Bay of Biscay, 18 August 1943, aged 30 years

Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"

Memorials:

• Runnymede (Air Forces) Memorial, Surrey, England;
• Air Forces Memorial (Runnymede Memorial), Australian War Memorial, Roll of Honour; and
• Misima Island PNG - Roll of Honour.

Personal Details

Birth: 

Born 7 March 1913 in Brentwood, London, England, United Kingdom - (Source : English Birth Records January, February, March 1913 - District :Brentwood, Vol 3a page 336.)

Father: Walter Charles SWINSON of 42 Leslie Street, Bardon, Qld

Mother: Emily Rose SWINSON

Siblings:

Brother: - Geoffrey Wilfred SWINSON (Born 10 August 1908 in Halifax, England) - Serviced with the RAAF, service number 22843

Brother: - Cecil Charles SWINSON (Born 21 November 1923 in Todmorden, England) - served with the Australian Army, service number Q145766

Wife: Elizabeth SWINSON (nee White Shaw)

Engagement announced on Saturday 27 November 1937, Brisbane Courier Mail, page 28

Married on 9 April 1938 registration number 08185

Children:

Judith Ann SWINSON - Born 18 February 1939

Grandchildren: Unknown

Peter Ross SWINSON - Born 27 September 1942

Grandchildren: Ronald, Richard, Rodney, Tracy, Teena, Shane, Scott

Last lived:

13 Rockbeare Grove Ivanhoe, Banyule, Victoria on enlisting.

Enlistment and Service

Description: 28yrs old; married with one child; 5' 9.5" tall; 129 lbs;dark complexion; brown eyes; dark brown hair; Church of England

6/12/1941: Enlisted with RAAF at No3 Recruitment Centre, Brisbane, Queensland

6/12/1941: Appointed to No3 International Training School, Essendon, Victoria

16/2/1942: Appointed to No.5 Elementary Flying Training School, Narromine, New South Wales

29/07/1942: Embarked Melbourne, Australia for Calvary, Canada

12/09/1942:Appointed to No3 Service Flight Training School, Calvary, Canada

30/12/1942: Awarded "Flying Badge" - Successfully by RCAF

30/12/1942: Commissioned as a Pilot Officer, Gazette Number 66/43

17/01/1943: Appointed to No1 General Reconnaissance School, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada

3/04/1943: Embarked Halifax, Canada for deployment in England

19/05/1943: Stationed at RAF, Mount Batten, Plymouth, England

30/06/1943: Promoted to Flying Officer, Gazette Number 258/43

1/08/1943: Ceased attachment to the RAF and posted from RAF Station Mount Batten to No.10 Squadron RAAF (overseas).

Flying Officer 10 Squadron

Sunderland II - 10 (RAAF) Squadron - W3985/T - lost over Biscay Bay.

409027  F/O Victor Denis William COLLINS - RP187 - Pilot
407977  F/Lt Hickson William SKINNER - RP187 - Pilot
414966  F/O Ronald Ross SWINSON - RP190 - Pilot
401820  F/O William Noel HILL - RP188 - Nav
414990  F/Sgt Hugh Edward BURBIDGE - RP192 - Ag
402704  F/Sgt Ronald Arthur GIBBS - RP192 - WOp/Ag
404754  F/Sgt Kenneth Morwick MELDRUM - RP193 - WOp/Ag
5226      Sgt Alfred Ramsay ALDRIDGE - RP195 - Fitter 2A
19707    Sgt Walter Paul GREATZ - RP195 - Fitter 2E
51797    Sgt Norman Henry ORFORD - RP197 - Armourer
19194    Sgt Walter SLATER - RP197 - flt engineer
655726  F/Sgt Donald Stanyon CROXFORD - RAF(VR) - RP136 -passenger.

18/8/1943: Presumed killed in action, whilst flying overseas - off coast of UK

Cemetery and Memorials

• No known grave
• His name is commemorated on Panel 190, Memorial ID 15264410, at the Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede, Surrey, England.
• His name is commemorated on Panel 100 at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT
• His name is commemorated Misima Island, Papua New Guinea - Roll of Honour