LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Alan Samuel WILLIAMS
Service No: 409262
Born: Armadale VIC, 11 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 80 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 80 Squadron Tempest aircraft EJ664), North Sea, 25 September 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel and Lily M. Williams, of Caulfield, Victoria, Australia; husband of Dorothy Williams, of Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Tempest EJ664 was one of two Tempests which took off during the morning of 25 September 1944 to carry out an armed reconnaissance south of The Hague. Flying Officer J E Wiltshire (146892) (RAFVR) in EJ650 was the leader of the Section and Pilot Officer Williams in EJ669 his No 2. Pilot Officer Williams was heard to say over radio that he was baling out but his position was not clear. Both pilots failed to return from the mission.
In a 1945 statement obtained from eye witnesses it was reported that on 25 September 1944 two allied aircraft (fighters) flying in an easterly direction were hit by German anti-aircraft fire at
Steenbergen. After a few minutes one crashed in the water near Steenbergen, and the other glided towards Battenoord and crashed, with Flying Officer Wiltshire baling out about 2.5 miles and landing in the water. He was picked up by the Harbour master and became a German Prisoner of War.
In a later report Flight Lieutenant Wiltshire stated “we were flying over the Dutch islands (Scheldt etc) when I saw two ships. I told Williams to take the second ship and I the leading ship. I made one attack and as there was little or no flak and my No 2 had not apparently done much damage to his ship. I called him on radio to say we would both attack the second ship. This we did. No flak was fired until I was approximately 100 yards from the ship when a pretty heavy screen of light flak was encountered and my aircraft caught fire. I pulled up to 800 feet and baled out. Williams would have been 200 yards behind me, and after my parachute opened, I could not see any sign of Williams and presumed he must have crashed into the sea near the ship, between the island of Overflakee and the Dutch mainland off Steenbergen. Neither the pilot or the aircraft were seen.”
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, 166/43/878