NZ425052 F/O Burrell Alwyn Tovell Soundy RNZAF 

 

Rank

 Flying Officer  (Air Bomber)

Name & Decorations 

 Burrell Alwyn Tovell Soundy

Service

 Royal New Zealand Air Force

Unit

 No 299 Squadron RAF, (previously 28 Ops on on 75 (NZ) Squadron).

Attached To

  RAF Wethersfield, Essex.

Operation

  N/A

Date of Death

  7th January 1946

Place of Death

  RAF Hospital Rauceby

Circumstances

 Admitted to hospital with pulmonary TB on 20 April 1945. Died 7 Jan 1946.

Age

  30 (B: 30 March 1915, Wanganui, New Zealand)

Buried or commemorated at

  Sleaford Cemetery, Sleaford, Lincs.

Grave or Memorial Number

 Section AA: Grave 137

 

Source: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C26364

 

Family:

Son of Ernest Tovell-Soundy and of Mabel Tovell-Soundy (nee Calders), of Wanganui; and husband of Eileen Soundy (nee McBride), of Johnsonville, Wellington.

 

Military Training:

Royal Canadian Air Force, No. 10 Air Observer School, Chatham, New Brunswick 

Course 1: Class 62. Graduation Date: 4/12/1942. AWMM

 

Royal Canadian Air Force, No. 4 Bombing and Gunnery School, Fingal, Ontario

 

26 Nov 1942 – awarded Air Bomber brevet and promoted Sergeant (Aircrew).

 

28 December 1942 – arrived UK at No 3 Personnel Reception Centre, Bournemouth from Canada and was posted from there to No 11 OTU (Operational Training Unit) at Westcott in Buckinghamshire where he converted onto the Vickers Wellington bomber .

 

On 7 May 1943 he was posted to No 1651 Conversion Unit at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire, to convert onto the Short Sterling heavy bomber.

 

4 June 1943 – promoted Flight Sergeant (Aircrew) and posted to No 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF, with whom he carried out 24 operational sorties, including 8 as Air Bomber / 2nd Pilot. His sorties included Mulheim, Aachen, Hamburg (4 times) Essen, Nuremburg, Berlin (twice), Turin and Boulogne. The Sqn was based at Newmarket in Suffolk then Mepal in Cambridgeshire. Whilst at 75 (NZ) Sqn, on 26 August 1943 he was commissioned as Pilot Officer, General Duties Branch (Aircrew).

 

On 22 November 1943 he was posted to no 1665 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) at Woolfox Lodge in Rutland. He was probably posted there as an Instructor to rest after his tour on Ops with 75 (NZ) Sqn. However, on 28th December, he was admitted to an RAF Medical Rehabilitation Unit (MRU) at Loughborough after suffering an injury to his knee resulting from a slip in the front turret of his aircraft.

 

Whilst in the RAF Hospitals, he was promoted to Flying Officer (F/O) on 26 February 1944. After a spell at Loughborough he was sent to RAF Hospital Rauceby, near Sleaford in Lincolnshire.

 

In June 1944 he reported to No. 1665 HCU, now at Tilstock in Shropshire, where he was retrained on the Short Stirling heavy bomber. On 23rd October 1944 he was posted from 1665 HCU to No 299 Sqn RAF at Wethersfield. Essex in where he participated in flying exercises and three operational sorties, two in Holland. 

 

299 Sqn was a Special Operations Squadron, which included towing gliders, famously on Operations MARKET GARDEN (Arnhem) and VARSITY (crossing the Rhine). The Squadron was heavily involved in dropping the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem on the first day of Op MARKET GARDEN on 17 Sept 1944, although this was shortly before F/O Soundy joined the unit.  The Sqn's main activities were dropping supplies to resistance groups and agents of the Special Operations Executive, dropping suppplies to SAS patrols behind enemy lines, and occasionally conducting air-sea rescue search operations.

 

On 20th April 1945, F/O Soundy was readmitted to the RAF MRU at Loughborough, where he was swiflty diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. and transfered the same day to RAF Hospital Rauceby. 

 

F/O Burrell Soundy, Air Bomber, Royal New Zealand Air Force, died on Sunday 7th January 1946, and was buried with full service honours in the Military Section of Sleaford Cemetery in Lincolnshire. 

 

(Image of grave to follow).