LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Herbert Noel WILLIAMS
Service No: 405089
Born: Brisbane QLD, 7 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 1443 Ferry Training Flight (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1443 Ferry Training Flight Wellington aircraft HX433), Wales, 28 May 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Tywyn Cemetery, Merionethshire, Wales
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert John and Jessie Elene Williams, of Northgate, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Northgate QLD
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 28 May 1942, Wellington HX433 took off from Harwell for a cross-country flight and fuel consumption test, preparatory for delivery to the Middle East. It appears that the aircraft was flying in cloud and approximately thirty degrees off course, when it smashed into the top of a hill, 2,500 feet above sea level, at Mynydd Moel (near Dolgellau), Merioneth. All six crew members were killed.
The crew members of HX433 were:
Flight Sergeant Henry Lawrence Davis (R/85807) (RCAF) (second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William John Peter Grant (R/79042) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Douglas Graham (1059997) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant John Ingram McDowell (1076263) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Clifford James Thomas (1332256) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Herbert Noel Williams (405089) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 8 Heavy Conversion Units and Miscellaneous Units 1939-1947, Midland Counties Publications UK, 2003
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/178/328