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Pilot Officer William Sumner 177350
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Lived at Millhouse, Church Road, Bickerstaffe and was the son of John and
Annie Sumner and brother to Hazel.
William was just over 17 when he volunteered and
joined the R.A.F. He was then sent to Canada to train where he gained his wings.
He was then drafted to India flying Lockheed
Hudson aircraft for coastal Command, ferrying goods from Northern to Southern
India.
On the 22nd May 1944 he was killed in
an accident, when an engine caught fire, and the plane failed to gain height.
He died Monday, 22nd May 1944. Aged 21. He is buried
in Madras Cemetery India, plot 6, row B, grave 13.
Before the war, William was a keen sportsman and
played for Everton Football Club in the number seven shirt.
On request, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Inspector photographed Bill’s grave in Madras Cemetery, India in the spring of
1993.
