LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant William Howard WARREN
Service No: 411415
Born: Watson’s Bay NSW, 22 November 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 April 1941
Unit: No 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4262), Lincolnshire, 11 November 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Scampton (St John the Baptist) Churchyard, Lincolnshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Lilian Warren, of Punchbowl, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1721 hours on the night of 10 November 1942 Lancaster W4262 took off from Scampton detailed to carry out a gardening mission and lay mines in the mouth of the Gironde Estuary, France. At 2238 hours a second class fix was obtained which placed the aircraft about 40 miles south of Portland Bill. The aircraft was later in contact with the MFTA Station base. A final message QDM (magnetic heading to base) 300 was received which was acknowledged. The aircraft crashed just after acknowledging the last message when it flew into high ground at Girsby Park near Burgh on Bain, 8 miles south of Binbrook. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W4262 were:
Flight Sergeant Ronald Ross Abercrombie (978002) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Harold Barry (405130) (RNZAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frederick Oswald Button (1332830) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Michael Gerrard Everard (970535) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Andrew Bradshaw Jackson (527848) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant William Howard Warren (411415) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Ernest Young (1140214) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
The NAA RAAF Casualty file records Sergeant Warren’s aircrew category as Wireless Air Gunner, the same file records him as Air Bomber on the above mission.
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, 163/176/418