LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer William Kenneth WILLIAMS
Service No: 401086
Born: Echuca VIC, 22 April 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 December 1940
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5636), North West Europe, 11 June 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William James Williams and Helen Sarah Williams, of Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia. B.A., First class honours in School of Economics; awarded Cobden Medal, and Wyselaskie Scholar.
Roll of Honour: Sandringham VIC
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2214 hours on 11 June 1942 Lancaster R5636 took off from Scampton for a mining operation in the vicinity of the Friesian Islands. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of R5636 were:
Sergeant Thomas Harry Clark (R/54784) (RCAF) (Second Wireless Operator)
Pilot Officer Phillip Stanley Mackay (112493) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant John William Melhuish (913679) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Derrick John Monk (922739) (RAFVR) (First Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Dennis Neill O’Day (1059607) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Harold Menzies Spence (402411) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer William Kenneth Williams (401086) (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
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, 163/64/155