LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Eric Samuel WILLIS
Service No: 444068
Born: Summer Hill NSW, 6 December 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 January 1944
Unit: No. 84 Operational Base Unit, Labuan
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 110 Squadron (RAF) Mosquito aircraft RF664), Labuan, 31 January 1946, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Labuan War Cemetery, Malaysia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert George and Lillian Agnes Willis, of Beecroft, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 113, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 31 January 1946, Mosquito RF664 took off from Labuan airfield to carry out an air test. After a normal take-off, permission was granted for the aircraft to fly past the control tower to check that the undercarriage was locked up. The Pilot came down to approximately 40 feet with the port airscrew feathered and then climbed to 700 feet. An attempt was then made to restart the port engine but this was seen by witnesses to be unsuccessful. The aircraft was then seen to gradually lose height and commence a left hand turn. It was heading back to the airfield when a wheels up landing was made just short of a paddy field in rough ground. After touch down the aircraft struck a steel pole, caught fire and both the crew members were killed.
The crew members of RF664 were:
Flight Lieutenant Frank Stanley Foss (118193) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Eric Samuel Willis (444068) (Navigator)
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, 166/43/1765