Oliver John Trevor LEWIS

LEWIS, Oliver John Trevor

Service Number: 40054
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Flying Officer
Last Unit: No. 37 Squadron (RAF)
Born: 1915, place not yet discovered
Home Town: Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Killed in Action, Off Wilhelmshave, Germany, 18 December 1939
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, International Bomber Command Centre Memorial, Runnymede Air Forces Memorial
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Flying Officer, 40054
Date unknown: Involvement Royal Air Force , Flight Officer, 40054, No. 37 Squadron (RAF)

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Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Son of Oliver James Lewis and Vera Ernestine Lewis, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Vickers Wellington IA N2889 LF-P 37 Squadron

Picked up early by an experimental German Freya radar on the island of Wangerooge and, in clear conditions, were scattered by accurate flak and then attacked by fighters. Twelve of the 22 aircraft which had reached the target area were shot down for 2 German fighters. This operation, together with an earlier and similarly disasterous operation on 14th December, had a profound effect on British bomber policy and did much to dispel the myth that bombers in a tight formation would always be safe from attacking fighters.

Thinks Her Flying
Son Still Alive
Mrs. Vera Lewis, of Broughton Road, Artarmon, believes that , her flying son is still alive. R.A.P. Flying Officer Oliver John Lewis, 24, has been reported missing by the Air Board "in an operation on  December 18." On this date British aircraft made a daring bombing raid- on the Island of Sylt. He is an only son, and his engagement to the daughter of a bank manager at Liverpool, N.S.W., was to  have been announced shortly. Mrs. Lewis believes that her son may be one of two R.A.F. men who were imprisoned by Germans after a forced landing on the Island of Borkum. In a letter to his mother.  Flying Officer Lewis said he had been placed in charge of one of the new British bombers. He was trained at Point Cook, where he took a commission in the RAF., and left for England in June, 1937.

 

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