LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer William CULMSEE
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 104516 (RAFVR)
Born: Location, Date unavailable (Birth registered Perth WA 1911)
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 76 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Middleton St George
Died: Air Operations: Bombing Technique (No. 76 Squadron Halifax II aircraft R9487), Germany, 13 April 1942, Age unavailable
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: No additional information
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Halifax R9487 took off from RAF Middleton St George at 2201 hours on the night of 12/13th April 1942, detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. R9487 was hit by flak at 16,000 feet and crashed at Buer, 5 kms north north west of Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Six of the crew were members killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of R9487 were:
Flying Officer William Culmsee (104516) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Robert Fairclough (112109) (RAFVR) (Observer) PoW
Flight Sergeant Richard William Albert Hawksworth MID (551586) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harry Ernest Hothersall (902193) (RAFVR) (First Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Keith Francis Lloyd-Jones (404250) (Pilot)
Sergeant Wallace Alfred Richard Moule (R/54309) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Philip Lawrence Wheeldon (569291) (RAF) (Second Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Bibliography:
Chorley W R, To See the Dawn Breaking: 76 Squadron Operations, W R Chorley Devon UK, 1981