LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer William Keeran QUILL
Service No: 10046
Born: Carlton VIC, 5 April 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 March 1940
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Pocklington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 102 Squadron Halifax aircraft NA602), Germany, 5 January 1945, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Eileen Mary Quill; husband of Ella May Quill, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hawthorn VIC
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1652 hours on the night of 5 January 1945 Halifax NA602 took off from Pocklington detailed to bomb Hanover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry Team later reported “captured German documents record that the aircraft crashed at Frielingen, 8 kms east of Wunstorf and 12kms north west of Hanover.” Seven of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of NA602 were:
Pilot Officer E M Boorman (188949) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Captain Ronald W Frederick Heiden (205959 V) (SAAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Alfred Ivor Johns (1837104) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Oswald Jones (1673055) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Peter Morgan (1832989) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer William Keeran Quill (10046) (Navigator)
Warrant Officer Morris John Edward Tyler (1415838) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Julian Francis Valery (428833) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Boorman later stated “The aircraft crashed north east of Hanover. I was blown out of the aircraft and all the others were 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, 166/34/31