LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William Arthur SHEPPARD
Service No: 432582
Born: Summer Hill NSW, 11 September 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 January 1943
Unit: No. 26 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 26 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft LP314), Buckinghamshire, 7 July 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Howard Arthur and Beatrice Magdalene Sheppard, of Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0125 hours on 7 July 1944, Wellington LP314 took off from RAF Station Wing for night circuit training. Following the failure of the starboard engine, at approximately 0215 hours the crew tried to make a landing on the airfield. Initially, all went well until the aircraft was nearing the runway when, at a height estimated to have been no more than 250 feet, it swung violently and crashed. The crew of three was killed.
The crew members of LP314 were:
Sergeant Ivor Arthur Checkley (1894195) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Phillip Sinclair Dalton (418640) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Arthur Sheppard (432582) (Wireless Operator Air)
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, 166/37/463