LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer William Golder SHILLINGLAW
Service No: 412846
Born: Marrickville NSW, 3 May 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Downham Market
Died: Air Operations: (No. 218 Squadron Stirling aircraft BK7120, Belgium, 22 June 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Langdorp Churchyard, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Anderson Shillinglaw and Helen Hay Shillinglaw, of Concord, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Concord NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Concord War Memorial, Concord NSW
At 0014 hours on the morning of 22 June 1943 Stirling BK712 took off from Downham Market detailed to bomb Krefeld, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from batteries and crashed at
Maarheeze, 15 kms south east of Eindhoven. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of BK712 were:
Flight Sergeant Douglas Joseph Ashby-Peckham (404092) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Raymond Percy Goward (1258721) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Arthur Edwin Gurney (1581644) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edgar Desmond Hart (1314586) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Arne Rhoar Helvard (128521) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot) (Attached from No. 1651 Conversion Unit RAF)
Sergeant Thomas Reginald Lunn (1167033) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Patrick Desmond McArdle (1241848) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer William Golder Shillinglaw (412846) (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, 155/37/124
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line