Advertisement

Sqn Ldr William Godfrey Tiley

Advertisement

Sqn Ldr William Godfrey Tiley

Birth
Wiltshire Unitary Authority, Wiltshire, England
Death
17 Apr 1944 (aged 33–34)
At Sea
Burial
Colerne, Wiltshire Unitary Authority, Wiltshire, England Add to Map
Plot
126
Memorial ID
View Source
TILEY, WILLIAM GODFREY Squadron Leader
Service No:45766
Age:34
Royal Air Force,525 Sqdn.
Awards: M B E
Son of William and Emma Selina Tiley, of Colerne.
Server 17 1/2 years in the RAF.

RAF 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft, with fourteen air crew members and passengers aboard, had taken off from RAF Station St. Mawgan, Newquay , Cornwall, on a scheduled service flight (England to Algiers Maison Blance airport, via Gibraltar), when it exploded in mid-air and crashed into Watergate Bay near Newquay  Bay.  All 14 on board  the aircraft perished in the crash.  The Warwick was thought to be carrying several top-secret agents, military advisers, linguists and top-secret documents, as well as  thousands of £100 bills and possibly boxes of gold (thought to be for use in helping to finance European underground groups). 
The passengers included two French officers enroute to meet with General Charles DeGaulle in Cairo; two Polish couriers enroute to Warsaw; one senior staff officer enroute to Cairo; one Greek expert enroute to Greece; one Hungarian/Canadian enroute to Hungary on an S. O. E. mission; three S. O. E. officers; and one Russian-speaking MI6 officer enroute to Yugoslavia to meet with Tito partisans.

The 525 Squadron members who perished in this accident were: 
RCAF Flying Officer Harold Calven AUSTEN
RAFVR Flying Officer Albert George Tracey GARDINER,
RCAF Flying Officer Arthur Douglas GAVEL,  
RAF Pilot Officer George William LAMB
RAFVR Flying Officer Noel Spencer NICKLIN
RAFVR Flight Sergeant Michael Kingston ROWE and 
RAF Squadron Leader William Godfrey TILEY.

The passengers were:-
Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Watkins BIRTS
RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour DAWSON-DAMER, Viscount CARLOW
Lieutenant Colonel Stanley CASSON
Kapitan Edmund GÓJSKI
Kapral Józef KRÓL
Lieutenant Stephen MAITLAND (using the alias, Lieutenant Stephen MATE)
(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: Steve Mate (Civilian), Stephen Mate (General List) and Stephen Maitland [Alias]), 
Major Thomas Percival WARD and
Roger A. A. Baudouin (age 47).

RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour Dawson-Damer, Viscount Carlow was on board this Warwick aircraft as a passenger; he was en route to visit Tito in Yugoslavia.
TILEY, WILLIAM GODFREY Squadron Leader
Service No:45766
Age:34
Royal Air Force,525 Sqdn.
Awards: M B E
Son of William and Emma Selina Tiley, of Colerne.
Server 17 1/2 years in the RAF.

RAF 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft, with fourteen air crew members and passengers aboard, had taken off from RAF Station St. Mawgan, Newquay , Cornwall, on a scheduled service flight (England to Algiers Maison Blance airport, via Gibraltar), when it exploded in mid-air and crashed into Watergate Bay near Newquay  Bay.  All 14 on board  the aircraft perished in the crash.  The Warwick was thought to be carrying several top-secret agents, military advisers, linguists and top-secret documents, as well as  thousands of £100 bills and possibly boxes of gold (thought to be for use in helping to finance European underground groups). 
The passengers included two French officers enroute to meet with General Charles DeGaulle in Cairo; two Polish couriers enroute to Warsaw; one senior staff officer enroute to Cairo; one Greek expert enroute to Greece; one Hungarian/Canadian enroute to Hungary on an S. O. E. mission; three S. O. E. officers; and one Russian-speaking MI6 officer enroute to Yugoslavia to meet with Tito partisans.

The 525 Squadron members who perished in this accident were: 
RCAF Flying Officer Harold Calven AUSTEN
RAFVR Flying Officer Albert George Tracey GARDINER,
RCAF Flying Officer Arthur Douglas GAVEL,  
RAF Pilot Officer George William LAMB
RAFVR Flying Officer Noel Spencer NICKLIN
RAFVR Flight Sergeant Michael Kingston ROWE and 
RAF Squadron Leader William Godfrey TILEY.

The passengers were:-
Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Watkins BIRTS
RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour DAWSON-DAMER, Viscount CARLOW
Lieutenant Colonel Stanley CASSON
Kapitan Edmund GÓJSKI
Kapral Józef KRÓL
Lieutenant Stephen MAITLAND (using the alias, Lieutenant Stephen MATE)
(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: Steve Mate (Civilian), Stephen Mate (General List) and Stephen Maitland [Alias]), 
Major Thomas Percival WARD and
Roger A. A. Baudouin (age 47).

RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour Dawson-Damer, Viscount Carlow was on board this Warwick aircraft as a passenger; he was en route to visit Tito in Yugoslavia.

Inscription

PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
SQUADRON LEADER
WILLIAM GODFREY TILEY, M. B. E.
OF THIS PARISH
17 ½ YEARS R. A. F.
KILLED ON ACTIVE SERVICE
APRIL 17TH 1944,
AGED 34 YEARS.
_____________


Sponsored by Ancestry

Advertisement

  • Created by: Wertypop
  • Added: Oct 27, 2012
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99701013/william_godfrey-tiley: accessed ), memorial page for Sqn Ldr William Godfrey Tiley (1910–17 Apr 1944), Find a Grave Memorial ID 99701013, citing St John the Baptist Churchyard, Colerne, Wiltshire Unitary Authority, Wiltshire, England; Maintained by Wertypop (contributor 46806984).