LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant William Frederick Elmo THOMPSON
Service No: 406741
Born: Kalgoorlie WA, 19 April 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 March 1941
Unit: No. 2 Squadron, Hughes NT
Died: Air Operations (No. 2 Squadron Mitchell aircraft A47-33), Tanimbar Island, 20 December 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Henry and Mattie Edith Thompson; husband of Doris Lewin Thompson, of Palmyra, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Fremantle WA
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
At 0730 hours on 20 December 1944, Mitchell A47-33 took off detailed to carry out a ship reconnaissance to the east coast of Jamdena Island, then around the Kai islands and return to Hughes. Nothing was heard from the aircraft which failed to return to base. In 1946 the wreck of the aircraft and the remains of the crew were located in Saumlaki.
The crew members of A47-33 were:
Flying Officer Leslie Thomas Forsyth (418377) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer Francis Herbert Mathews (418970) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Rolfe (432434) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Henry Rowlands (419918) (Wireless Operator Air)
Warrant Officer John Ernest Stuart Thompson (415921) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant William Frederick Elmo Thompson (406741) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 2
Bibliography:
Gaston, Bruce DFC (406646), Harry Horner DFC OAM (406595), Raymond Storer (406666) (Editors), Aircrew for the Duration: of and by members of RAAF EATS Courses 10, 11, 12 & 13, Gaston Horner and Storer, Nedlands WA, 1990
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Boston, Mitchell and Liberator in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992