Richard Leslie William Cheek
Flight Lieutenant · 131080 · United Kingdom
- Died
- 30 May 1944, aged 27
- Fate
- Killed in action
Biography
Richard Leslie William Cheek served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, flying with No. 40 Squadron in the Mediterranean theatre, where the unit operated Vickers Wellington bombers from bases in southern Italy. In October 1943, then a Flying Officer, he carried out a series of audacious night attacks on enemy airfields near Rome: on one night he made repeated bombing runs that set a large aircraft ablaze before descending almost to ground level to strafe the field, leaving six aircraft burning and three destroyed by explosion, and on the following night he again pressed home determined attacks despite ground fire. For this sustained courage and skill he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, gazetted on 19 November 1943. Cheek went on to be promoted to Flight Lieutenant. He died on 30 May 1944 at the age of 27, by which time the squadron was operating from the Foggia airfield complex. He is buried in Bari War Cemetery, Italy, in grave XV. C. 27.
Burial / commemoration
- Cemetery
- Bari War Cemetery, Italy
Operations on this date. 2 raids in this archive were flown on the night of 30 May 1944: Hannover · Boulogne. (Cross-reference by date — not in itself confirmation this airman flew it.)
Timeline
-
19 November 1943
Gazetted: DSO
Distinguished Service Order -
30 May 1944
Died
aged 27
Awards
-
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) — gazetted 19 November 1943
One night in October, 1943, this officer executed a most determined and highly successful attack on an enemy airfield near Rome. Flying Officer Cheek made several runs over the target, releasing his bombs to good effect. Several of them burst in front of the hangars and a large aircraft was set on fire. He afterwards came down to almost ground level to sweep the objective with a hail of bullets. As a result, 6 aircraft were set on fire, 3 of which exploded. The following night, Flying Officer Cheek attacked another airfield in the same area. In spite of opposition from the ground defences, he executed resolute bombing attacks and afterwards machine-gunned the airfield from a low level. On ot.