LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Kenneth Roy COLLIER
Service No: 422424
Born: Glebe NSW, 5 November 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 91 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 91 Squadron Spitfire aircraft MK587), Germany, 5 December 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hendricus Josephus and Sylvia Dorothy May Collier
Roll of Honour: Balmain NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 5 December 1944 Spitfire MK587 along with other Spitfires of No. 91 Squadron was detailed to act as withdrawal escort to bomber returning from Hamm, Germany. Shortly before the rendezvous, two large formations of FW190s and ME109s were seen below and to starboard. The Squadron made a head on attack on the enemy aircraft, each Pilot making an individual attack from the sun.
MK587 was flying as Yellow 4 and was observed by Yellow 2 and 3 as they went in to attack, and was assumed to have followed as soon as the attack was broken off, but no further contact was made with MK587, and it failed to return to base. A later report by a Missing Research and Enquiry team stated “the aircraft was shot down by enemy aircraft and crashed at Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and the pilot was killed.”
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, 166/8/764
Bibliography:
RAAF Directorate of Public Relations, Victory Roll, Australian War Memorial Canberra, 1945 – Chapter: Versus the V’s