LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer William Frederick COLLINS
Service No: 402458
Born: Goondiwindi QLD, 6 December 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Metheringham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB601), France, 27 April 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Laneuville-a-Bayard Churchyard, Haute-Marne, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold and Elizabeth Collins, of Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Burleigh Heads QLD
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2130 hours on the night of 26 April 1944 Lancaster JB601 took off from Metheringham detailed to bomb Schweinfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was one of 16 aircraft from the Squadron taking part in the raid. The aircraft crashed on French soil at Laneuville-a-Bayard (Haute-Marne) on the bank of the Marne, 10 kms south east of St Dizier, France. Seven of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of JB601 were:
Sergeant H Bradley (1575978) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot) PoW
Sergeant Henry David Clark (1122986) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer William Frederick Collins (402458) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William Frederick Evans (902284) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ernest Ambrose Hatch (933266) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Leonard George Alfred Izod (1873929) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Squadron Leader Anthony O’Shea Murdoch (40414) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Howard Rees (1580581) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
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, 166/8/433