Service Number 1684920
Service RAF
Unit 166 Squadron
Regiment Royal Air Force
Killed in Action: 17th March 1945
Buried Durnbach War Cemetery
Biography
William Leslie Hilder was born on the 22nd February 1923 in the Wetherby District, the younger son of George and Elizabeth Hilder. His parents had come from Scotland but we do not know much about his parents' lives there. Our first information about the family's connections with Collingham and Linton is that William Leslie Hilder, was born in the Wetherby area in 1923. Soon after that there are electoral roll records for a George Hilder and Lily Hilder for 1924, 1926, 1927, 1932, 1933 and 1934 at Linton Spring, Linton. George Hilder died in 1935, and is buried in St.James on the Corner Cemetery in Wetherby. Elizabeth Hilder remained in the district and she appears on the electoral rolls in 1937 and 1939 at 'The Shop, Linton'. Sydney and William grew up in and around Linton.
We believe that William was better known around the villages as Bill, and it is clear that Bill and his brother, Sydney, were well known and played a full role in village life, as leading members of Collingham and Linton Cricket Club. The March 1941 issue of the Collingham and Linton Parish magazine reports the 1st XI averages for the 1940 cricket season. The leading batsman was Sydney Hilder. He had batted 12 times in the season with 2 not-outs. His highest score was 103 not out, and he had scored a total of 340 runs at an average of 34.0. His brother Bill was second in the averages (11 innings, 3 not out, highest score 45, with 210 runs at an average of 26.1. Both of the Hilders were also all-rounders. Sydney was fourth in the bowling averages with 85 overs, 13 maidens, 19 wickets at a cost of 306 runs, average 16.1; while Bill was third with 89 overs, 4 maidens, 23 wickets for 366 runs, average 15.0. Les had also taken 5 catches.
Bill Hilder enlisted for service on the 9th March 1942, as an Aircraftman 2nd Class at No. 3 Recruits Centre at RAF Padgate near Warrington. He was immediately placed in the reserve on the 10th, until he reported for duty on the 19th October 1942 at No 1 ACRC (Air Crew Reception Centre). Here Bill would have been issued with uniform and his basic training along with aptitude tests and physical training would have started.
The normal training of RAF flying crew was (i) Initial Training School; (ii) Elementary Flying Training School; (iii) Service Flying Training School; (iv) Personnel Reception Centre (or Personnel Dispatch and Reception Centre); (v) Advanced Flying Unit; (vi) Operational Training Unit; (vii) Heavy Conversion Unit (for bomber pilots only) and finally (viii) Operational Squadron posting.
Bill started his training after a month at ACRC, with a first posting to 26 Wing Air Crew Camp and then, on the 27th November 1942 to No. 8 ITW (Initial Training Wing) based at the requisitioned Trenance Hotel in Newquay. At ITW Bill would have followed a course of approximately 10 weeks which included lectures and grading in maths, navigation, signalling in morse, hygiene, law and administration, arithmetic, aircraft and ship recognition and anti-gas. These skills will have determined what roles in flight crew he was most suited for. The ITW course ended with a grading and having passed Bill became a Leading Aircraftman (LAC) on the 19th February 1943.
At the end of his stay at 8ITW, on 30th April 1943, Bill Hilder was posted via Air Crew Despatch Centre (ACDC) and was attached to No 26 Elementary Flying Training School (26 EFTS). This appears to have been located at RAF Theale also known as RAF Sheffield Farm, in West Berkshire. At the end of this attachment, Bill returned to ACDC on the 4th June 1943 before onward posting to Draft 7829 and was sent overseas for further training. During this time Bill was promoted to Temporary Sergeant (Pilot) on the 6th February 1944. Bill's record does not give a clear indication where this was but after learning to fly he returned to the UK on the 30th March 1944, disembarking in the UK on the 12th April 1944, when he was formally posted to No 7 Personnel Reception Centre which was based in several requisitioned hotels in Harrogate Town Centre and which processed mostly aircrew returning from overseas during the Second World War (especially after training courses).
On the 10th May 1944, for one week, Bill was at RAF Cosford, then went via No 7 Personnel Reception Centre again to 18 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (18(P)AFU) where he probably joined course number 67. AFU were there as part of the progressive training from light basic trainers (Tiger Moth and Magister) onto higher powered aircraft like Masters, Harvard, Hurricane (for pilots going into single engine flying, so fighter pilots) and twin engine types like the Anson and Oxford for multi engine training (bomber + transport etc).
Men trained for air crew duties next had to learn about operating as part of an operational air crew and to form the close-knit crews that would work together on Squadrons. Bill was posted for this part of his training to No. 85 Operational Training Unit on the 8th August 1944. At this stage of the war, No. 85 Operational Training Unit was based at RAF Husbands Bosworth near the village of Husbands Bosworth in Leicestershire, and was tasked with the training night bomber crews with the Vickers Wellington.
After OTU training Bill's record shows him on the 11th November 1944 at 71 Base RAF, which was at RAF Lindholme, North East of Doncaster. 71 Base had sub-stations at RAF Sandtoft in North Lincolnshire between Doncaster and Scunthorpe. Here Bill was a member of 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (1667 HCU) where he and his crew moved to flying the Lancaster bomber. A photograph of the time shows Bill and his crew outside Lancaster ED536 which we know was part of 1667 HCU at the time. After crew training on the Lancaster Bill and his crew were posted, on 7th February 1945, to an operational squadron, 166 Squadron, at RAF Kirmington, Lincolnshire, and at the same time Bill was promoted again to Temporary Flight Sergeant.
Bill Hilder and crew next to Lancaster ED536 at 1667 HCU. The crew members are: Back row, left to right - Flt. Sgt. William Leslie Hilder (pilot), Flt. Sgt. Ronald Thomas Guscott (Flight Engineer), Flt. Sgt. Eric Alexander Roy RNZAF (Air bomber), Flt. Sgt. Jack William Richards (Navigator), Sgt. L. Titus (Rear Gunner). Front row, left to right - Flt. Sgt. Mervin Desmond Sylvester Davis RNZAF (Wireless Operator), Sgt. Eric Charles Wilkie (Mid Upper Gunner). Photo source https://www.raf166squadron.com/MissingHilder.htm.
RAF Kirmington was a Royal Air Force station located 6.2 miles north east of Brigg, Lincolnshire and 11 miles south west of Grimsby. It is the current location of Humberside International Airport.
During the first few weeks on the squadron, Bill, and his crew, probably undertook training missions but Bill flew his first mission as Second Pilot with a more experienced crew in a raid on Chemnitz on the 14th February 1945.
On this operation 166 Squadron lost one Lancaster, that flown by Flying Officer Kemp. He and the rest of his crew were all killed and are buried in Berlin 1939-1945 Cemetery.
Bill Hilder's second operational sortie was his first with his own crew. This was a daytime raid on Mannheim.
166 Squadron lost another Lancaster on this raid. All seven of the crew of the aircraft flown by Flying Officer Phelps were killed and are buried in Durnbach Cemetery.
Bill's third sortie was a daytime raid on Cologne.
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Bill Hilder's fourth sortie was a night raid back to Chemnitz, the target when he made his first operational flight with 166 Squadron, but this time he was flying with his won crew.
After about a week off operations, Bill Hilder's 7th trip was a raid on Nuremburg. This was Bill Hilder's last raid, as his aircraft was brought down, with the loss of most of the crew.
This was a bad raid for 166 Squadron. Three of its aircraft failed to return with the loss of 11 of its members killed and another 9 taken prisoner of war.
Lancaster AS-J2 flown by Bill Hilder took off at 17.25 on Friday, the 16th March 1945. After forming up with the bomber stream over Reading it headed out across the English Channel as a part of the first attacking wave of main force aircraft. Around 2100 hours, the Lancaster crossed into Germany and when just south of Stuttgart altered course onto the third leg of the route to Nuremburg. It was at this point that the German neighfighters intercepted the bomber stream, and several bombers were seen to go down in flames. While flying north-east, just to the east of Stuttgart, AS-J2 encountered flak bursts up ahead and took avoiding action. At the same time, a German nightfighter, flown by Feldwebel Emil Weinmann of the unit IV./NJG 6, intercepted the Lancaster and attacked the bomber, probably from below. The attacking aircraft was not seen by any of the crew of AS-J2, and the attack appears to have set alight the No. 2 fuel tank, situated between the engines on the port wing. Also, the Lancaster was hit amidships, probably close to the main spar, setting alight either a part of the incendiary bomb load or the fuel lines through the main spar and/or oxygen tanks. The Lancaster may also have been hit in the nose, forward of the cockpit and in the starboard engines and/or wing fuel tanks. After watching his victim go down in flames, Fw. Weinmann claimed the Lancaster as destroyed, noting the time of combat as being 2117 hours. It is known that the pilot, F/Sgt. Hilder and the navigator, F/Sgt. Richards, both survived the initial attack. F/Sgt. Richards was heard to say over the intercom, We’re on fire, boys. We’re on fire, to which the pilot replied, I know!. F/Sgt. Hilder dove and turned the burning aircraft out of the bomber stream and to the south, fighting to maintain control. Sgt. Titmus in the rear turret also survived the attack but vacated his turret when the tail section and his turret began to burn due to the flames streaming back from the ruptured wing fuel tanks. When he reached the rear escape door, he noticed that the mid-upper air gunner, Sgt. Wilkie was lying prone on the floor. It was while Sgt. Titmus went to the injured Sgt. Wilkie’s assistance that the Lancaster broke up and Sgt. Titmus was thrown through the rear escape hatch. He just managed to open his parachute before losing consciousness.
The Lancaster, while rapidly losing height, had maintained a general southerly course. When low and close to the village of Waeschenbeuren, to the east of Stuttgart, the aircraft was seen to break up before crashing to the ground. It appears, firstly, that the port-outer wing with the Merlin engine attached broke away after the wing section between the two engines had burnt through. Also, fire had damaged and weakened the fuselage around the main spar, killing the wireless operator, F/Sgt. Davis, who had perished in the flames. The whole cockpit section, forward of the main spar broke away from the rest of the aircraft, throwing out the dead wireless operator.
Both the cockpit section and the main part of the aircraft crashed about 150 metres apart in the Haid Forest, which was situated just to the south of the village of Waeschenbeuren. The port wing section came to rest further to the southwest, just outside of the forest.
All the crew members apart from Sgt. Titmus were killed. Sgt. Titmus landed by parachute in the forest. He managed to hide from the Germans for about two days, in spite of injuries sustained upon landing. He was finally captured early in the morning on the 19th March 1945, in the waiting room of the Birenbach train station, a few kilometres to the west of the crash site. He was transported to Stammlager VA prisoner-of-war camp at Ludwigsburg, where he remained until the end of the war.
Early in the morning on the 17th March, the German authorities and local villagers visited the scene where the Lancaster had crashed. The body of F/Sgt. Davis was found in a field just to the northeast of the crash site. He had died while still in the aircraft and had not had time to don his parachute. A local villager, Mr. Wilhelm Weiler, wrapped the body of F/Sgt. Davis in a blanket and transported it by horse and cart to the civil cemetery in the village of Maitis where he was buried on the 17th March 1945 and an unmarked cross was placed over the grave. The body of Sgt. Wilkie was found near the main section of the aircraft. Another burnt and unidentifiable body was situated nearby. In the burnt-out cockpit section three more unidentifiable bodies were later found and recovered. On the 19th March 1945, Mr. Isidor Wahl transported the bodies of Sgt. Wilkie and another unidentified crew member by horse and cart to the civil cemetery in Waeschenbeuren were they were buried together in Plots 667 and 668, and the grave was marked with a cross bearing the inscription, 'Here lie two British airmen, killed on 17/3/45'.
On the 21st March 1945, the three unidentified bodies from the cockpit section were recovered and buried together in a communal grave in the forest, close to the aircraft, and an unmarked cross was placed on the grave. One of these bodies was later identified as the pilot, F/Sgt. Hilder, possibly identified on account of his either still being in the pilot’s seat or wearing the harness of a pilot-type seat parachute (the rest of the crew wore chest-mounted parachutes).
[Some of the above information about the circumstances of the crash, local reactions and the initial burials was found in a report prepared by Roderick Mackenzie in May 2002 and found on the internet.]
After the war, the crews bodies were concentrated to Durnbach British Cemetery - Sgt Wilkie and Sgt Guscott's bodies from Waschenbeuren Civilian Cemetery; Sgts Richards, Roy and Hilder from Forest Esker Civilian Cemetery, and Sgt Davis' body from Maitis Civilian Cemetery - so all are now buried together in Durnbach.
Altogether during the four weeks that Bill Hilder was posted to 166 Squadron the squadron lost eight aircraft with 45 men killed and 11 taken prisoner of war.
William Leslie Hilder's brother, Sydney Napier Hilder, also died on RAF operations in World War 2 and his service is detailed here.
Locally, William and Sydney Hilder are both commemorated in Linton Memorial Hall, at the Collingham & Linton Sports Association and on their parents' grave in St.James on the Corner Cemetery, Wetherby.
Biography last updated 28 June 2022 14:55:23.
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