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Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 249 Sqd. Was known as Billy.
Age: 20. Date of Death 1943-03-20
Buried in Malta, Malta Memorial, Panel 10, Column 1.
Son of Arthur H. And Gertrude M. Locke, of Lockston, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland.
William's father Herbert Arthur Locke moved from Lockston, NewfoundlandL, Canada to the USA as a young man, where he met and married. Gertrude Mae Lewis from Nova Scotia, Canada. William was therefore born in New York City, Sometime after the death of William's mother in 1928 his father moved the family back to Lockston, Newfoundland. William enlisted in the Newfoundland Forestry Unit in 1939 and later transferred to the Royal Air Force. One of the photos shows the uniform worn by William located in the Trinity, Newfoundland museum.
No. 249 (Gold Coast) Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron, active in the sea-patrol, fighter and bomber roles during its existence. It was the top scoring fighter squadron of the RAF in World War II.[2]
Casualties 20-24 Mar 1943 - Royal Air Force
locke, william john (108838) rafvr; age: 20 He was killed whilst flying in Spitfire VC, BR345 of No 249 Sqn, which was shot down by Bf 109s during an ASR sortie. He is commemorated on the Malta Memorial.
Per link on the right, pilots and aircrew who joined from Newfoundland , many went to the RAF, as Newfoundland did not join (officially as a province) Canada until 1949. The link on the right states ...
"Global service by Newfoundlanders also entailed global sacrifices. At least 132 of the estimated 815 Newfoundland/ RAF members died on duty." Unfortunately, Billy Locke was one of them, Malta being one of the most terrifying places to endure a siege (and starvation) in history.
