Raymond Walter Wheeler                                                                      Updated: 06 OCT 2021

Airman: e777084.htm Surname: Wheeler Init: R W Rank: F/Sgt Service: RAF Sqdn: 77

P_link: p260.htm Plane: HAL LW341 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: The Baltic Sea

Crash_d: d160244 Buried_d: e777 C_link: e777.htm At_Next: NO KNOWN

"Under et bombetogt til Berlin styrtede en Halifax i Østersøen natten til den 16. februar 1944." (FAF)

"891 bombemaskiner angreb denne nat Berlin. Heraf gik 42 tabt. Allerede mellem Odense og Kiel mødte man de første natjagere, og angrebene fortsatte over Østersøen
og helt frem til målet. 16 bombemaskiner blev skudt ned af natjagere på denne strækning, og mellem Lolland og den nordtyske kyst (måske omkring her) blev yderligere
7 bombemaskiner rapporteret nedskudt af flakskibe og flakbatterier langs kysten. Først flere måneder efter nedskydningen drev liget af en af skytterne i land ved Kappel, mens resten af besætningen aldrig er fundet."  (FT 86-90-19)

Flight Sergeant Raymond Walter Wheeler, 22 år, var søn af Edward Walter og Ethel Wheeler, Basingstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
Hans navn er på Panel 223 på the Runnymede Memorial blandt mere end 20.000 navne på flyvere, der ikke har en kendt grav. (Kilde: CWGC)

Fra HAL LW341 er 1 flyver begravet i Kappel. 6 flyvere har ingen kendt grav. 7 flyvere.

"During a bombing raid to Berlin a Halifax crashed into the Baltic Sea on the night before 16 February 1944." (FAF)
The IBCC has operational details at the end of all entries about these crew members.

"891 bombers attacked Berlin this night. 42 of them were lost. Already between Odense and Kiel they met the first night fighters, and the attacks went on across the
Baltic Sea and to the target. 16 bombers were shot down by night fighters on this leg, and between Lolland and the coast of northern Germany (maybe about here)  7
more bombers were shot down by flak-ships and flak-batteries along the coast. Not until several months after the shotdown did the body of one of the gunners drift
ashore at Kappel, while the rest of the crew were never found." (FT 86-90-19)

Flight Sergeant Raymond Walter Wheeler, 22, was the son of Edward Walter and Ethel Wheeler, of Basingstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 223, among more than 20,000 airmen, who have no known grave. (Source: CWGC)
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 2, Panel 263.

1 airman from HAL LW341 is buried in Kappel. 6 airmen have no known grave.

No. 77 Squadron - Wikipedia * 77 Squadron Association * Halifax * Halifax-BC Museum.Canada * Halifax-RAF Museum * Halifax-The Yorkshire Air Museum.
Halifax II LW341 KN-D took off from RAF Elvington at 17.24 hrs on 15 FEB 1944. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.) Google Map 77 Squadron DK
49 airmen of 77 Squadron: 23 buried in Denmark, 4 in Germany, 17 no known grave, 1 prisoner of war and 4 airmen evaded to Sweden.