LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer William Julius Henderson GOVE

Service No: 401636
Born: Melbourne VIC, 22 April 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 March 1941 (at Adelaide SA)
Unit: No. 2 Squadron, Milingimbi NT
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 2 Squadron Hudson aircraft A16-197), Rabuma Island, 20 April 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery, NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Vivian and Vera Masden Drayton Gove; husband of Patricia Walcott Gove, of Toorak, Victoria.
Roll of Honour: Toorak VIC
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Pilot Officer Gove enlisted in the Reserve at Melbourne on 13 July 1940 and was issued Service Number 401636. He subsequently entered into full-time service at Adelaide on 31 March 1941 but is not listed on the SA Memorial.

At 0614 hours on 20 April 1943, soon after their two Hudsons set off from Milingimbi to bomb Timoeka in Dutch New Guinea, Flight Lieutenant Keith Daniel (A16-197) and Flying Officer Keith Mills (A16-183) collided over Rabuma Island. All members from both the crews were killed in the subsequent explosions and crashes.

The crew members of A16-197 were:

Pilot Officer Joseph Gipson Butler (408820) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Keith Edmund Daniel (402852) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer William Julius Henderson Gove (401636) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Jack Laws (412979) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas William Wilson (408899) (Wireless Air Gunner)

The crew members of A16-183 were:

Pilot Officer John Loughnan Barnes (404946) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Trevor William Bassan (411985) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Harold Herbert Keith Hadley (411904) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Noel Edward John (409551) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Keith Rosslyn Mills (405637) (Pilot)

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 137

Bibliography:

Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992

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