LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant William McLaurin CHASE
Service No: 409894
Born: Yannathan VIC, 27 October 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941
Unit: No. 405 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station Gransden Lodge
Died: Air Operations: (No. 405 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND587), Belgium, 9 May 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Chievres Communal Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Theyre Pelham Chase and Doris Mary Chase, of Yannathan, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Yannathan South VIC
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0200 hours on the night of the 8/9th May 1944, Lancaster ND587 took off from Gransden Lodge, detailed to bomb the railway yards at Haine-St-Pierre. On the return trip from the target the aircraft was shot down by an enemy night fighter, and crashed at 0345 hours near Gallaix (Hainaut), 12 kms east of Tournai. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ND587 were:
Flight Sergeant James Mathew Buckley (2202638) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant William McLaurin Chase (409894) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Denver Daniels (2216175) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Thomas Gill (157600) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Gordon Winston Knupp (J/23950) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant William Sinclair (151242) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Claude Michael Sylvah (J/85382) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
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, 166/7/492