Operation: Ramrod 398

Date: 30th December 1943 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 485 Squadron (11 Group)

Type: Typhoon Ib

Serial: JP532

Code: SA-T

Base: RAF Tangmere, Sussex

Location: English Channel

Pilot: F/O. Raymond Albert Peters DFM. NZ/404467 RNZAF Age 23. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 0955 hrs with 13 others from the squadron on a 'Noball' (1) site at Yvrench-Bois-Carré .

During the return trip F/O. Peters aircraft suffered engine failure whilst flying at low level over the English Channel. He ditched in rough seas 10 miles south of Brighton. The body of the pilot was never recovered.

DFM awarded on the 18th August 1942:

"This section leader has displayed great energy and initiative in all his work. In attacks on shipping he has sunk a merchant ship and an 'E' boat at night. He has also destroyed one and probably destroyed two other enemy aircraft".

(1) 'Noball' - RAF operations against the ‘ski site’ launching ramps for V-1 flying bombs built by the Germans in northern France and in the Low Countries. The Yvrench-Bois-Carré site was pointed towards London. Such was the intensity of the bombings on this site none were ever launched.

Burial details:

F/O. Raymond Albert Peters DFM. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 198. Son of Albert Henry Peters and of Gladys Peters (née Healy) and husband of Iris Lilian Peters (née Foster), of Wanganui, Wellington, New Zealand. Previously had completed an operational tour with 175 Squadron.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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