NZ414721
Son of HD Williams and Muriel (Mona) Lowery
Siblings: Zetta, Meryl, Clive, Pauline
Birth: 25 Nov 1920
Death: 14 Mar 1944 23 yr
Keith was born in Morrinsville and brought up on the farm in Seiferts rd Tauhei,
He went to Tauhei school, starting in 1926
Tauhei Scool,
Tauhei History (50 page PDF),
see page 12 for school role (1926).
His name is on the Roll of Honour in the Tauhei Memorial Hall, see page 21.
For Secondary school he went to Mt Albert Grammar.
panel W_018.
He Learnt to fly in DH82 Tiger Moth, progressed to Harvards, Hurricanes then Typhoons.
Flight log book shows Keith had approx 545 hrs recorded flight time. 20 hours logged on Typhoons, so most of 1942-1943 were in Hurricanes.
He applied for war service with RNZAF July 1940. (aged 19)
He was enlisted for aircrew training August 1941. (aged 20)
Training began at Initial Training Wing in Levin (NZ) after which he was posted to New Plymouth (NZ) 29 Sept 1941 for flying training.
Elementary training ( in DH82 Tiger Moths ) was completed 17 Nov 1941, after which he was posted to Canada for further training under the Empire Training Scheme, where he likely progressed to Harvards.
Keith was trained at RCAF, #6 Service Flying Training School, Dunnville, Ontario Canada, 1941, (Dunnville – Google Maps)
Training Course 1: Class 44.
Graduation Date: (Flying Badge) 24/04/1942
It seems that just prior to graduating he had a wheels up forced landing, due to engine failure. This was 2.20 at night on 16 April 1942, during a solo cross country night navigation flight in a Harvard II (#2753).
He came down in Freedom New York, South East of Buffalo.
The airframe (port wing centre section) and engine / propeller were seriously damaged but Keith was uninjured.
At the time he had 52 hours solo flying in the Harvards (and a further 66 under instruction). By then his total hours were 92 solo and 103 under instruction. (he also has a few hours in the Yale, an intermediate trainer, looking similar to and usually used prior to instruction in a Harvard.)
{It seems the airplane (Harvard 2753) was eventually repaired and was involved in an incident on Dec 7 1943 (year & half later) at a different unit (132F in Boundary Bay scroll down / search 2753) where the landing gear failed to deploy. It had also been involved in several other incidents prior to Keith’s. It was eventually withdrawn from service 6 Nov 1946.}
29 May 1942 he was posted across the other side of Canada to No. 122 Composite Squadron, Patricia Bay, British Columbia Canada. There he initially flew Norseman (#695, 696, 3539, 2480, at one point he flew the seaplane variant) then Lysanders (424, 484, 445, 446, 483, 484, 425, 452, 427, 416). He also had flights in a Bristol Bolingbroke (9090, 9035, twin engine maritime patrol trainer) as second pilot, it appears at least once as a search mission for an Avro Anson .
1 April 1943 after completing that tour of duty of nearly a year, he was sent back across the other side of Canada to “Y” Depot, Halifax, Nova Scotia for embarkation to England.
Arriving in England 17 April 1943, he remained at No. 11 Personnel Reception Centre, Brighton until being posted to No. 17 Advanced Flying Unit, Wrexham Denbighshire, North Wales, on 7 June 1943.
After nearly 2 months, on 27 July 1943 he proceeded to No. 59 Operational Training Unit, initially in Milfield and later Brunton Northumberland, where he continued his training on Master II (# 8333, 8886, 8789, Master) then gained proficiency in Hawker Hurricane Fighter Aircraft (# V7607, AG191,V0984. V6984 and numerous others).
He received his promotion from Flight Sergeant to Warrant Officer 24 Oct 1943.
After a short course in Jan 1944 with No. 1 Tactical Exercise Unit, Tealing Scotland, where he flew Hurricanes, he was posted to 486 (NZ) Squadron, initially in Beaulieu Hampshire, where in Feb he flew Hawker Typhoon (SA-L, SA-Z, SA-B, SA-D. SA is the squadron code for 486 (NZ)Squadron). Then for the first week of March he was posted to Drem East Lothian Scotland (near Edinburgh) where he continued to fly Typhoon (SA-E, SA-D, SA-M). Then in the second week of March to Castle Camps Cambridgeshire where he continued in Typhoon SA-D and SA-M.
On his second flight of the day on 13 March 1944 in SA-M (JR-146), on a Cine gun exercise, he had engine trouble 30 minutes after take-off and crash landed. see below for the accident report.
His time at Castle Camps to the date of his death 13 Mar 1944 was only about a week.
He flew with Royal New Zealand Air Force, 486 (NZ) Squadron, RAF with the rank of Warrant Officer (other members listed here Royal New Zealand Air Force, 486 (NZ) Squadron, RAF ) .
Archives:
Accident Details:
(Note: Figure 108 says Keith Henry, but his name is Harry Keith)
He is buried at Cambridge City Cemetery, U.K. Grave 13536
He was awarded the War Medal 1939-1945 (other recipients listed here War Medal 1939-1945) and New Zealand War Service Medal (other recipients listed here New Zealand War Service Medal)
486 sqd discussion https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/23579/typhoon-project-canada?page=2
Auckland Museum Cenotaph https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27460
Aircrew Remembered https://aircrewremembered.com/williams-harry-keith.html
War Graves https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/harry-keith-williams
Commonwealth War Graves https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2651666/harry-keith-williams/