LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Patrick William LAIDLER
Service No: 415800
Born: Perth WA, 26 March 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942
Unit: No. 5 Lancaster Finishing School (RAF), RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (Lancaster aircraft W4102), Nottinghamshire, 14 April 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Laidler; husband of Veeni Edwina Horwill Laidler, of Mount Hawthorn, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Carnarvon WA
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On the 14th April 1944, Lancaster W4102 took off from RAF Syerston, on a non-operational flight. Forty minutes after take off the aircraft was seen to collide with an Airspeed Oxford at about 1000 hours. W 4102 crashed in the vicinity of the aerodrome and was a complete write off. All the crew members and the pilot of the Oxford were killed.
The crew members of W4102 were:
Sergeant Glyn Robert Aspinall (1800248) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick William Edwards (1869475) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Henry Ernest Herbert (1822275) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Peter William Raymond Holes (140864) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Patrick William Laidler (415800) (Pilot)
Flying Officer David Winchester McRuer (151768) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Henry Holmes Richardson (J/17320) (RCAF) (Pilot Instructor)
The pilot of the Airspeed Oxford was:
Aircraftman Class 2 Sidney Stokoe (1677803) (RAFVR) (Pilot Under Training)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/24/427