Dates:
War Service:
Flying Officer LIONEL COTTRELL WHEEKER, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve died on 9 April 1943 while serving with 199 Squadron.
At 2025 on 8 April Vickers Wellington ‘EX-L’ took off from RAF Ingham in Lincolnshire to lay mines off St Nazaire in Brittany. These low level mine laying operations were referred to as ‘gardening’. The aircraft never returned and only one body was recovered from the sea, but the remainder including F/O Wheeker were never found.
F/O Wheeker and the rest of the crew with no known grave are remembered on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.
Location of Memorial:
His name appears on the Roll of Honour at the church of St John the Baptist, Southend. His name is listed among the dead of the two World Wars in a volume setting out the history of the Old Dunstonians Rugby Football Club.
Details:
He was born in Greenwich in the spring of 1913, the son of Edgar and Nellie Wheeker and educated at St Dunstan’s College.
Source:
Contributed By: Andy Pepper
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