LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Cecil Alfred WILLIAMS
Service No: 405459
Born: Ipswich QLD, 16 May 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1941
Unit: No. 21 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Moreton-in-Marsh
Died: Aircraft accident (No. 21 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft R1345), Irish Sea, 19 August 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Lewis Williams and Annie Harry Williams, of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ipswich QLD
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2120 hours on 18 August 1942 Wellington R1345 took off Moreton-in-Marsh on a night training flight. A third class fix was obtained by Sealand at 0031 hours which placed the aircraft about 18 miles west of the point where it should approximately have been at the time. No other contact or messages were received from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. It was considered that the aircraft may have crashed into the Irish Sea.
The crew members of R1345 were:
Pilot Officer Richard Albert Castell (48954) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Mervyn Ralph Derrick (R/107000) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Herbert Ernest Drake (1208628) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Arthur Pogrel (1014112) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Cecil Alfred Williams (405459) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
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: 163/178/391