Plaistowe, Ralph Cuthbert, son of Cuthbert Plaistowe of Ealing and Christine Lilian, d. of Ralph Callard of Ealing; b. 6 Dec. 1911; adm. Sept. 1925 (H); left July 1930; Queens' Coll. Camb., matric. 1930, BA 1933; a chartered accountant, ACA 1937; practised in London and Leamington Spa; Sgt RAFVR, killed in action 1 Sep. 1941.
Ralph Cuthbert Plaistowe was born at Ealing, Middlesex on the 6th of December 1911 the elder son of Cuthbert Plaistowe, managing director of a fruit preserve and confectionary manufacturer, and Christine Lilian (nee Callard) Plaistowe of “Mansfield”, Elgin Road, Weybridge in Surrey. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Homeboarders from September 1925 to July 1930. He matriculated for Queens’ College, Cambridge in 1930 where he graduated with a BA in 1933. He went to work as a chartered accountant and qualified ACA in 1937. He practiced in London and at Leamington Spa. He was awarded a Royal Aero Club Certificate (No. 16362) at Brooklands Flying Club on the 1st of October 1938 while flying a Tiger Moth aircraft. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he trained as a pilot and rose to the rank of Flight Sergeant.
On the 1st of September 1941 Bomber Command dispatched 34 Wellingtons and 20 Hampdens for an operation on Cologne. The weather was clear and returning crews reported that they saw a number of fires on the ground but many of these were German decoy fires. The German authorities reported that one house was damaged in the city and that there were no casualties on the ground.
Ralph Plaistowe and his crew took off from RAF Scampton at 8.13pm on the 1st of September 1941 in Hampden Mk I AE187 OL-L for the operation. They crossed the English coast at Orfordness. The aircraft was shot down by an enemy night fighter flown by Oberleutnant Wilhem “Willi” Dimter of 3./NJG1 and crashed at Deurne, Noord Brabant, 9 kilometres to the east south east of Helmond in Holland at 11.47pm with the loss of the entire crew. Theirs was the fourth victory of an eventual eight victories for Willi Dimter before he was killed in action on the 7th of September 1942.
The crew was: -
Sergeant James Hughes (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Adrian John Somerville-Woodiwis (Navigator)
Sergeant Ralph Cuthbert Plaistowe (Pilot)
Sergeant Robert Buist Scott (Air Gunner)
Theirs was the only aircraft which failed to return from the raid.
The crew was buried at the Military Cemetery, Eindhoven on the 2nd of September 1941. Their bodies were exhumed for identification purposes and were reburied on the 23rd of April 1947.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Queens’ College, Cambridge and on the 1939-1945 Roll of Honour of Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Articled Clerks.
He is buried at Woensel General Cemetery, Eindhoven Plot JJ, Grave 35.
