Pilot Officer Lionel Graham WILLIAMS (42550)
233 Squadron Royal Air Force

Date of birth: 12th December 1920
Date of death: 3rd November 1940

Killed in action aged 19
Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial Panel 10
He was born at Adelaide in South Australia on the 12th of December 1920 the second son of Thomas Harry Williams, superintendent of Euston Exchange & China Telegraph Company, and Natalie of The Grange, Hamstreet, Kent and of "Maids Moreton", Smeeth near Ashford.

He was educated at Feltonfleet Preparatory School, Folkestone, and at the King's School Canterbury from September 1934 to July 1938 where he was in The Grange and was a member of the PT squad.

Just before the outbreak of war he joined the Royal Air Force and was commissioned as an Acting Pilot Officer on the 19th of August 1939. He was promoted to probationary Pilot Officer on the 1st of February 1940 and was confirmed in his rank on the 26th of June 1940. He was posted to Coastal Command flying Lockheed Hudson aircraft with 233 Squadron based at RAF Leuchers in Scotland, operating over the North Sea and the Baltic.

Lionel Williams and his crew took off from RAF Leuchers in Hudson Mk 1 N7374 ZS-N at 8.32am on the morning of the 3rd of November 1940, with two other aircraft from the Squadron, setting course for the Norwegian coast for an offensive patrol. At 10.57am they had reached the Norwegian coast and were turning south at 3,000 feet, when they spotted two coastal vessels heading in a northerly direction. One was about three miles to the south of the port of Egersund, Rogaland and the other was just to the north.

At 11.13am the formation reached Lister and prepared to bomb the Luftwaffe airfield there. On their run in at 3,000 feet, while one mile to the west of the airfield, they were attacked by six Messerschmitt Bf110 aircraft and climbed towards 5,000 feet to take advantage of the cloud cover. The German aircraft concentrated on Lionel Williams’ aircraft which was on the left hand side of the formation. His aircraft was hit in the starboard engine, with flames seen spreading to the starboard bow and he was unable to maintain the formation. The other two aircraft were able to make good their escape and when they returned to Leuchers at 1.41pm they stated in their debriefing that they thought there was a good chance that the four members of Williams' crew had been able to bale out, or had crash landed. Sadly, this was not the case and they were all lost.

The crew was: -

Pilot Officer Lionel Graham Williams (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Henry Gordon Gilbert (Navigator)
Sergeant James Greig (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Henry Frank Thorndike (Air Gunner)

His mother received the following telegram dated the 4th of November 1940: - "Regret to inform you that your son Pilot Officer Lionel Graham Williams is reported missing as the result of air operations on Nov. 3rd 40. Letter follows. Any further information received will be immediately communicated to you. Should news of him reach you from any source please inform this department."

His brother, Flight Lieutenant Harry Malcolm Williams OKS 102 Squadron Royal Air Force, was killed on active service on the 14th of April 1942.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Smeeth.
The Grange

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