LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William Russell McAULIFFE
Service No: 424701
Born: Waverley NSW, 8 September 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 October 1942
Unit: No. 464 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 464 Squadron Mosquito aircraft NT143), Germany, 18 December 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Ambrose and Ellen Mary McAuliffe, of Helensburgh, New South Wales, Australia; husband of Alma Gladys McAuliffe, of East Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Helensburgh NSW
Remembered: Panel 261, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Mosquito NT143 took off from RAF Thorney Island at 1740 hours on the night of 18 December 1944, being one of 17 aircraft from the squadron detailed to bomb road and rail junctions in the Ruhr area, Germany. NT143 failed to return from the mission. It was later established by a Missing Research and Enquiry Unit that the aircraft crashed in the middle of the Siegfried Line 200 yards from the village of Kesfeld but no trace of the missing crew could be found.
The crew members of NT 143 were:
Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey Adamson Curry (40005) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Russell McAuliffe (424701) (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, 166/26/723
Bibliography:
Lax, M. (Mark) and Leon Kane-Maguire The Gestapo Hunters: 464 Squadron RAAF 1942-5, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 1999
Vincent, D. (David) Mosquito Monograph: A history of Mosquitoes in Australia and RAAF operations, David Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1982