LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Frederick Ernest WILLIAMS
Service No: 404772
Born: Springsure QLD, 15 February 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1940
Unit: No. 27 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Lichfield
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 27 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X9706), near Lichfield, 17 January 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Fradley (St Stephen’s) Churchyard, Staffordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Fernie Williams and Winifred Isobel Williams; husband of Florence Myra Williams, of Wowan, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bollon QLD
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 16/17 January 1942, Wellington X9706 took off from Lichfield for night bombing practice. During the exercise the weather deteriorated and a signal was received indicating that the Sperry compass had failed. Uncertain of their position the crew requested a QDM (magnetic heading to base). Nothing further was heard and at about 2105 hours the aircraft crashed into a wood, two miles south of Echilles Farm, at King’s Bromley, five miles north from Lichfield. All the seven crew members were killed.
The crew members of X9706 were:
Sergeant Wilfred Roy Beeton (1359941) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Joseph Henry Rogerson (400211) (Observer)
Sergeant Arthur Wilson Savage (1378823) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Evan Frederick Webb (420767) (First Pilot)
Sergeant Malcolm Hunter Welch (926914) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick Ernest Williams (404772) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Jack Stephen Richards Woolnough (408003) (Instructor Pilot)
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, 163/177/204