LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Keith Walkom MILNE
Service No: 423813
Born: Burwood NSW, 22 August 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 206 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Leuchars
Died: Air Operations: (No. 206 Squadron Liberator aircraft LK259), Skaggerak area, 8 April 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Archibald Edwin Gordon Milne and Eva Louise Milne, of Burwood, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Burwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 283, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2020 hours on 8 April 1945 Liberator LK259 took off from Leuchars to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in the Skaggerak area. The aircraft’s ETA for base was 0645 hours on 9 April, but it failed to return. It was later established that the remains of two crew members had been recovered. In 1949 with no trace of the remaining missing crew members being found, it was recorded that they were lost at sea.
The crew members of LK259 were:
Pilot Officer Anthony James Barton (196207) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant George Arthur Ellison (1894253) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Remains recovered
Flying Officer John Adam Wilson Heatlie (153632) (RAFVR) (Navigator) Remains recovered
Flight Lieutenant Brian Lloyd Howell (128367) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Michael Jerome (576331) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flight Sergeant Anthony William Alfred Mason (1867529) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant John Edward McDonald MID (61039) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer William Charles Milligan (423156) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flying Officer Keith Walkom Milne (423813) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Warrant Officer Fred Poole (1204005) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flying Officer Albert George Stass (152214) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Charles Tupman (1684144) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
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, 166/27/880
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996