Norman Francis Williams, (3 November 1914 – 30 June 2007) served as an air gunner in

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF)

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, becoming its most highly decorated

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

. A

rear gunner A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun or auto ...

in a

Halifax bomber The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its or ...

, he was credited with shooting down 8

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

aircraft and damaging several others, making him the RAAF's only "

ace An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...

" who was not a fighter pilot.

Early life

Williams was born in

Narrandera, New South Wales Narrandera ( ) until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell and Sturt highways, adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River, and ...

, the eldest child of Elsie Mary Gibbs and William Francis Williams. He was educated on the family farm until the family moved to

Leeton, New South Wales Leeton is a town located in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Leeton is situated in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, approximately 550 km west of Sydney and 450 km north of Melbourne. It is the administrative centre of the Lee ...

, where his father ran a garage. He attended St Joseph's Convent School and then the Catholic College run by the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

Sale, Victoria Sale is a city situated in the Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria and the council seat of the Shire of Wellington. It had an estimated urban population of 15,682 according to the 2021 census. The total population including the ...

. He left school aged 16, and worked in Leeton.

Second World War

He was working for the New South Wales Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission at the outbreak of the Second World War. He joined the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

, and transferred to

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in May 1941. He became the top student in his air gunnery course, and left for England on the

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

in March 1942. He became the rear gunner in the Halifax bomber piloted by Des Smith in

No. 10 Squadron RAF Number 10 Squadron is a Royal Air Force squadron. The squadron has served in a variety of roles (observation, bombing, transport and aerial refuelling) over its 90-year history. It currently flies the Airbus Voyager KC2/KC3 in the transport/tan ...

in August 1942. He completed a tour of 30 missions, being decorated with two

Distinguished Flying Medal The Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for "exceptional va ...

s, and then volunteered with his crewmates to become a

Pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder (w ...

with

No. 35 Squadron RAF No. 35 Squadron (also known as No. XXXV (Madras Presidency) Squadron) was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. History World War I No. 35 Squadron was formed on 1 February 1916 at Thetford, training as a Corps reconnaissance squadron. In January 1 ...

, flying ahead of the main force to mark targets. His aircraft was severely damaged on a raid over

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in March 1943, with his turret's rotation mechanism rendered inoperable and a wing on fire. While the crew prepared to bail out, the pilot heard Williams calling him to turn starboard, allowing his machine guns to bear on a closing German

nightfighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

, which blew up. The bomber dropped its bomb load, but was attacked by a second German fighter. With bullet wounds in his stomach and legs, Williams legs were paralysed, but he managed to shoot down the second fighter. The Halifax limped back to England, where it crash-landed. Williams was cut out of his turret, and spent several months in the hospital recuperating from his injuries. He was awarded the

Conspicuous Gallantry Medal The Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM) was, until 1993, a British military decoration for gallantry in action for petty officers and seamen of the Royal Navy, including Warrant Officers and other ranks of the Royal Marines. It was formerly aw ...

. He later said that he had been told he would have received the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

if he had died. He returned to Australia in April 1944, and was posted as a tutor at the air gunnery school in

Cressy, Victoria Cressy is a town in Victoria, Australia, approximately north of Colac on the Ballarat road. It is divided between Golden Plains Shire, the Shire of Colac Otway, and Corangamite Shire. At the 2016 census, Cressy and the surrounding area had ...

. He refused to go, requesting an active posting instead. He became a belly gunner in an RAAF

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

bomber in

No. 23 Squadron RAAF No. 23 (City of Brisbane) Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is a non-flying base operations and training squadron headquartered at RAAF Base Amberley near Brisbane, Queensland. The squadron was formed in 1937 and saw action agai ...

, based in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and on

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

Later life

He joined the headquarters of

No. 81 Wing RAAF The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, t ...

in Japan after the war ended, as part of the occupying forces. By then a

flight lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

, he was demobilised in May 1948. He returned to Australia, taking up a soldier's settlement block near

Wakool, New South Wales Wakool is a town in the western Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Wakool is in the Murray River Council local government area, south west of the state capital, Sydney and north-west of Melbourne. At the , Wakool had a population ...

on the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest r ...

, developing a rice farm which doubled as a nature reserve. He opposed a plan in the 1950s to drain Christies Creek, which ran through his farm, because it would adversely affect local wildlife. He returned to the RAAF in 1952 with a short-service commission, serving as an

air traffic controller Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

and

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He finally returned to Australia in April 1954, and resigned his commission as an acting

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

in September 1954. He married Maisie Lamont in 1951. He died peacefully at

Barham, New South Wales Barham is a town in the western Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located 823 kilometres south west of the state capital, Sydney and 303 kilometres north west of Melbourne. Situated on the banks of the Murray River ...

. He was survived by his wife and their three children.

References

Obituary, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 11 September, 2007Farewell for Leeton war hero at Barham
Irrigator.com.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Norman 1914 births 2007 deaths Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian military personnel of the Korean War Royal Australian Air Force officers Royal Australian Air Force airmen Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Medal Recipients of the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal Air traffic controllers Military personnel from New South Wales