Sergeant Ronald Staples Ogg, RAFVR 1557938 was the son of John and Helen A. Ogg of 13 Kenmore Street, Aberfeldy and the husband of Madge Eunice Ogg, Glenfield, Leicestershire.
He was posted to RAF Transport Command and went on to further training and conversion courses, culminating at RAF Bramcote near Nuneaton with RAF 105 OTU (Operational Training Unit). Here the crews were prepared for flying the twin-engine Wellington aircraft, especially in readiness for the D-Day invasion and the campaign that would follow.
On the night of 28/29 April 1944, in Vickers Wellington T2968, they were practicing night take-offs and landings from the nearby satellite airfield at Nuneaton. The plane had been fully checked and passed fit for night flying. Gerald Toller, the pilot had logged 241 hours flying time with 38 hours at night.
The crew members of Vickers Wellington IC T2968 were:
Pilot, Flying Officer Gerald Stark Toller, RAFVR 74747
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, Sergeant Ronald Ogg, RAFVR 1557938
Navigator, Sergeant Stanley Reed.
Vickers Wellington IC T2968 had completed five circuits and landings and took off for the sixth time, heading North. The plane failed to gain sufficient height, the flaps were not retracted and after three miles the starboard wing struck a tree and the plane crashed and burst into flames at Manor Farm, Upton, Nuneaton, 8 miles north. Gerald Toller and Ronald Ogg were killed, Stanley Reed was thrown clear with slight injuries and burns to his face and hands.
Sergeant Ronald Staples Ogg was 23 years of age and is buried in Aberfeldy Cemetery.
Notes:
Gerald Toller was born in 1912 in Shantou (also known as Swatow) on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China. At the start of WW2, he joined the RAF and at some point, was an Intelligence Officer working undercover in France.
RAF Bramcote after WW2 became HMS Gamecock and then Gamecock Barracks.
The satellite airfield near RAF Bramcote was also known as Fenny Drayton, Lindley, MIRA and RAF Nuneaton
The Vickers Wellington development was led by Vickers-Armstrongs’ chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its geodetic airframe fuselage structure, which was principally designed by Barnes Wallis (bouncing bomb inventor).
