| 14/10/2020 |
The family lived at Dunmurray, Draperstown. |
| 14/10/2020 |
Aircraftman 1st Class (A.C.1) Joseph McWilliams. Royal Air Force, son of Mr and Mrs B McWilliams, of Dunmurray, Draperstown, is reported to have lost his life in an airplane accident on his way home from France on 7th October. He had seven years’ service. |
| 14/10/2020 |
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 20th October 1945: |
| 14/10/2020 |
Joseph enlisted in the Royal Air Force around 1938. |
| 10/04/2020 |
Aircraftman 1st Class Joseph McWilliams served with the Royal Air Force in World War Two. |
| 10/04/2020 |
Aircraftman 1st Class Joseph McWilliams died on 7th October 1945. He was 27 years old. |
| 10/04/2020 |
On 7th October 1945 he was a passenger on a Stirling aircraft (Serial Number LJ668) from 299 Squadron, a special transport flight, was travelling from Cairo bound for the UK with a crew of 6 and 20 service personnel. |
| 10/04/2020 |
The aircraft had been airborne for nine hours. Fuel supplies were running low and the weather was poor. It attempted to make emergency landing at Rennes airfield. |
| 10/04/2020 |
After midnight, while completing a last turn in the poor conditions, the aircraft nosed down and crashed in flames in a field short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire. All 26 occupants were killed. |
| 10/04/2020 |
Joseph McWilliams was the son of Bernard and Margaret McWilliams. He was born about 1918. |
| 10/04/2020 |
The CWGC record Aircraftman 1st Class Joseph McWilliams as the son of Bernard and Margaret McWilliams of Draperstown, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. |
| 10/04/2020 |
Aircraftman 1st Class Joseph McWilliams was buried in Rennes Eastern Communal Cemetery. His inscription reads: OF YOUR CHARITY PRAY FOR THE SOUL OF JOSEPH BELOVED SON OF B. AND M. McWILLIAMS. R.I.P. |
