Service: RAAF – 80 RAF Squadron
Service number: 409943
Locality on Enlistment: Colac
Duration of Service: 7 Nov 1941 – 30 Mar 1945
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 27 Jun 1923 Colac
Parents: Donald Archibald RANKIN and Victoria Mary PLUNKET
Spouse:
School/s: Cororooke State School, Colac High
Occupation: Clerk SEC
Date and Place of Death: 30 Mar 1945 Diepholz, Germany
Place of Burial: Rheinberg War Cemetery Germany
NOTES: Neil enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 7 Nov1941. After completing basic training, he was sent to Canada under the Empire Training Scheme to obtain his “wings”. He then went to England and was posted to a Spitfire Squadron. He served with distinction before being involved in air sorties over Germany with No 80 Tempest Squadron during the last weeks of the war. Flying Officer Rankin lost his life at Diepholz in the Munster area of Germany on the 30 Mar 1945 at the age of 21. He is buried in the Rheinberg War Cemetery, 85 kilometres north of Cologne.