LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Llewellyn William LINKLATER
Service No: 428723
Born: Auburn NSW, 23 February 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1942
Unit: No. 1667 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Sandtoft
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1667 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft LL226), Sandtoft, 30 October 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph Llewellyn Linklater and Marie Linklater, of Auburn, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Auburn NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Auburn RSL WWII Honour Roll, Auburn NSW
At 1856 hours on the 30 October 1944, Halifax LL226 took off from Sandtoft tasked for as night cross country. The aircraft had engine trouble and was returning to base and made a forced landing. It crashed into a bungalow, killing the two occupants and a passing cyclist. Pilot Officer Linklater was killed in the crash and two RAAF crew members were injured. The engine failure occurred about 2000 hours when the port inner lost all pressure and the Pilot ordered the engine feathered. The Captain decided to return to base. The aircraft was about five minutes from base when the port outer gave showers of sparks and smoke poured from it. The Pilot feathered it to prevent fire at 3,000 feet. The aircraft lost height too quickly to bale out the crew, and the Pilot had difficulty in controlling the aircraft. The pilot ordered the crew to brace themselves and prepare for a forced landing on two engines. The aircraft made an approach in a west north west direction, overshot, but making a good touch down just short of the perimeter track with flaps down and undercarriage retracted. It skidded across the perimeter track and road and struck a cottage. The aircraft was badly damaged.
The crew members of LL226 were:
Flight Sergeant Joseph Eric Brown (422835) (Wireless Operator Air) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 February 1946
Sergeant Archibald McIntyre Drummond (425836) (Air Bomber) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 7 January 1946
Sergeant C L Hill (2204617) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) Dangerously injured
Flight Sergeant Harold James Kyle (434105) (Navigator) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 29 January 1946
Pilot Officer Llewellyn William Linklater (428723) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Daniel Mannix Joseph Whitty (437557) (Mid Upper Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 6 March 1946
Flight Sergeant Leonard Albert Wright (62965) (Rear Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 30 July 1945
The cyclist killed was Leading Aircraftman Thomas Simpson Nixon (2214130) (RAFVR) and the two civilians killed were Annie Wraith and M R Wraith.
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, 166/24/573
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line