Can anyone help me with information regarding Sgt Ian Taylor-Walker 2218721 who served with 356 Squadron. His date of death shows 18:4:1945 and he is buried at Kanchanaburi, I believe in a collective grave. I realise that 356 Squadron flew Liberators over Burma, Sumatra and Malaya. The CWGC records show that he was aged 18 when he died, young for a sergeant. Maybe promotion was an encouragement to become aircrew. Any help would be appreciated.
Liberator B.VI. KH272, 'D', dived into canal during attack on East Lock of Damhoen Saduak (the only one to be lost out of seven Libs who carried out the attack). All nine crew lost. CLARKE, LG 1601980 18/04/1945 HARRISON, RF 165719 18/04/1945 NEALE, PA 1583422 18/04/1945 NEWMAN, EW 128462 18/04/1945 PASSEY, NE 165782 18/04/1945 RAYBOULD, JJR 1583053 18/04/1945 ROSS, TDM 165752 18/04/1945 TAYLOR-WALKER, I 2218721 18/04/1945 WINCHESTER, RC 1455622 18/04/1945 The above thanks to Amrit rafcommands. Photo of Liberator B.VI KH272 'Daedalus' of 356 Squadron. Arrived Dorval 26 September 1944; to India, arrived Karachi 8 October 1944
More on 356 Squadron's attack on 18 April 1945 SOURCE 1: The book "Burma Liberators" by John R.W. Gwynne-Timothy is most likely based upon the details found in the 356 Squadron Operations Record Book: On 16 April 1945 356 Squadron was given a signal to prepare for an attack the following day on two canal locks in the Bangkok area, with the intention of cutting of water as well as electricity. Bad weather caused a postponement until the 18th, when eight Liberators took of shortly after 7 am from Salbani, Bengal, India. Having avoided bad weather east of the Tenasserim, Burma coast, the bombers easily identified targets in almost clear conditions. Low level attacks varied from 50 to 500 feet. On some only one bomb was dropped, while on others up to six bombs were dropped (captain's discretion). The results of the bombing were good. On the Damhoen Salauk West canal both lock gates were destroyed. On Damhoen Salauk East canal the east gate was demolished and the west gate damaged. On the Phasi Charoen canal the west gate was completely destroyed and the east gate badly damaged. Watercraft were also damaged. Aircraft "D" captained by F/L F.A. Newman did not make it home. At 1401 hours a flash was seen in its bomb bay, followed by a puff of white smoke. Immediately "D" crashed from 400 or 500 feet into the Damhoen Salauk canal 20 yards east of the east lock. The Liberator did not blow up before it hit the water, but no crew were seen to exit before impact. Crew escape was considered an impossibility. The Liberator disappeared, leaving a petrol/oil fire burning on the surface. In addition to F/L Newman the crew of "D" were Sgt P.A. Neal (2nd pilot), F/O R.F. Harrison (navigator), Sgt L.G. Clarke (wireless op), F/O N.E. Passey (air bomber), F/O T.D. Ross (front gunner), Sgt J.J. Raybould (ball gunner), Sgt L.T. Walker (rear gunner), and F/S R.C. Winchester (flight eng.). All were posted as missing. [NOTE: some name spellings vary slightly from CWGC info.] ++++++++++ SOURCE 2: Summary details in the 355/356 Squadrons' Register book "Signed with their Honour" (Mike Jones, editor) are also likely based upon the 356 Squadron ORB. Unlike "Burma Liberators", this source identifies the aircraft both by letter code (D) and serial number "KH272": On 18 April 1945 eight Liberators from 356 Squadron attacked the lock gates at the west end of the Damhoen Saduak canal and Phasi Charoen canal. They were also instructed to bomb the Damhoen Saluak canal's east-end lock gates. While attacking this latter target aircraft "D" (KH272) was seen to crash into the Damhoen canal about twenty yards from the east end of the East Lock. The aircraft sank leaving an oil or petrol fire on the surface. It was considered impossible for any of the nine-man crew to have survived. At the end of the raid both canals were tidal. ++++++++++ SOURCE 3: "To Burma Skies and Beyond", the memoir of G/Capt Reg (Lucky) Jordan DFC AFC, a 356 Squadron skipper on this op. This is rich info: On 18th April, we turned our attention to the canal system west of Bangkok, successfully immobilising some of the lock gates. That day the squadron employed two methods of attack - both from low level, with a separate team of aircraft allocated to each method. One of these was modelled on our attacks on the Burma-Siam railway bridges which I described earlier (see pages 102 and 103). Whilst in the other - which my own crew used - we attempted deliberately to bounce the bomb into the target off a very low straight-and-level approach along the canal. Bombs are only too ready to bounce off water unless they enter near the vertical, and since ours were stowed horizonatlly, we had a head start. With both teams busy in the same area, we naturally had to keep a close eye on what other members of the squadron were up to, and just as we delivered our last bomb, a yell from one of my gunners drew my attention to one of our aircraft attacking a target nearby. The aircraft, two hundred feet or so above its target, had pitched forward into a steep dive, leaving behind it an ominous puff of smoke. Within seconds, it had plunged almost vertically into the canal, impacting close to the lock gates it was attacking, and erupting in a ball of flame and thick black smoke. It was a shocking spectacle, and for a second or two I was numbed by the abruptness which which it had happened, since there had been no previous sign of ground defences. Somehow, death on such a violent scale was doubly incongruous in that otherwise peaceful scene of lush green paddy fields, gentle flowing canals and pretty timbered houses. Not that our own activities were bringing peace to the neighbourhood in any immediate sense. To add to the poignancy of the occasion, my gunners, who had been watching the activities of the rest of the squadron in some detail, identified the crew as the one I had screened on the operations against Bridge 147, less than three weeks earlier. What triggered that fatal sequence is a matter for conjecture, but I can advance one possibility. On that sortie, we had installed extra fuel tanks in the forward end of the bomb bay, where that initial puff of smoke appeared to come from. The possibility being that one of those tanks - at that stage empty of fuel, but containing a volatile mixture of petrol and air - had exploded on being hit by ground fire; which in turn had severed the elevator controls. ++++++++++ SOURCE 4: The newly-published Air-Britain book "The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service" by James D. Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas: In the individual aircraft history section of the book, KH272's details include this: "356 Sqn [A, later D], Daedalus; hit by flak and dived into canal on bombing run 18.4.45". A photo of this aircraft in flight is reproduced, with this caption: "Liberator B.VI KH272 Daedalus of 356 Squadron in formation with others before it was shot down by flak on 18 April 1945". Courtesy of Matt Poole
