LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William Jack TAYLOR
Service No: 407700
Born: Quorn SA, 3 February 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 December 1940
Unit: No. 223 Squadron (RAF), Maaten Bagush, Egypt
Died: Air Operations (No. 223 Squadron Baltimore aircraft AG717), Tobruk, 23 May 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Tobruk War Cemetery, Libya
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Dodd Taylor and Florence Beatrice Taylor, of Norwood, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Quorn SA
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
At 1225 hours on 23rd May 1942 Baltimore AG717 crash-landed at Tobruk due to enemy action and five of the crew members were killed.
The crew members of AG 717 were:
Pilot Officer Denis Clarke Cummins (406502) (Observer) Slightly Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 6 September 1945
Sergeant Clifford Albert Downing (616763) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Hugh Christopher Horsfield (1178821) (RAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer David George Walpole Leake (406506) (Pilot) Uninjured, Killed on air operations: 24 October 1942
Pilot Officer David Laird Muir (80357) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Kevin Ellsmore Stewart (400571) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William Jack Taylor (407700) (Observer)
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, 163/165/101