LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William John BROOKER
Service No: 430434
Born: Fairfield VIC, 25 October 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 December 1942
Unit: No. 93 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 93 Squadron Spitfire aircraft EN240), Italy, 9 April 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Ravenna War Cemetery, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Roy Ulric James Hubert and Elizabeth Mary Brooker, of Albert Park, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 9 April 1945 Spitfire EN240 while on a non-operational practice flight crashed 1.5 miles west of Cesenatico airfield, Italy. An eye witness saw the aircraft passing over at 3,000 feet going in the opposite direction, and heard him call up base saying he had a glycol leak and was going to try and make a forced landing. He lost sight of the aircraft then saw it burning on the ground with the pilot Flight Sergeant Brooker lying next to it.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/6/1057