Pilot Officer William Shannon Peake, No. 2 Aircraft Depot, RAAF
Australian War MemorialWilliam Peake was born in Naracoorte, South Australia, on 14 September 1917, the son of Edward and Alison Peake.
Known as “Bill”, he attended primary schools at Beachport, Naracoorte and Mount Gambier, and completed his education at Port Lincoln High School and Prince Alfred College.
Peake was prominent in athletic circles, being a member of the Sturt tennis club, and also the Keswick and Wayville tennis club; he was a member of the team which won the A Grade pennant in 1940. He also won the Eyre’s Peninsula Junior Tennis Championship; played football in the amateur league, and cricket in the Adelaide Turf Association.
Peake went on to work as a shipping clerk at the Head Office of the Adelaide Steamship Company. In March 1940 he joined the Militia, becoming part of the 51st Battery of the 13th Field Brigade. He served part-time as a gunner in the Royal Australian Artillery until January 1941, when he was discharged because he was in a reserved occupation.
The following year, Peake joined the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve in February, and on 21 July 1941 enlisted in the RAAF.
After initial training at Victor Harbour, he began training as a pilot, with postings to No. 1 Elementary Flight Training School at Parafield in Adelaide – and then at No. 6 Service Flight Training School at Mallala, some 60 kilometres north of the state capital.
In April 1942 he was awarded his flying badge and also a commission, becoming a pilot officer. After spending long leave in Adelaide, on the 16th of May Peake left Sydney for a northern station. As his father was Assistant Superintendent of Railways for South Australia, he had managed to organise a first-class ticket for the journey.
On 25 May, Bill Peake’s body was found in a railway tunnel between Grafton and Coffs Harbour. A court of inquiry later determined that he had fallen from the train, and died as the result of a fractured skull and broken neck on 17 May 1942.
His remains were cremated, with the ashes placed in Mitcham Cemetery in Adelaide.
William Peake was 24 years old
- AWM Roll of Honour https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1719069
