William J. Murphy (1916 – 4 September 1939) was the first British Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot to be shot down and killed during World War II.
[3] Murphy was the officer pilot of flight N6188 OM, a Bristol Blenheim Bomber, part of 107 Squadron, which was taking part in the RAF's first bombing raid of the war against enemy ships in the German port of Wilhelmshaven on 4 September 1939, the day after war was declared on Germany.
A navigator on another plane that day was Larry Slattery from Thurles in County Tipperary, who survived along with another officer, Sergeant G.F. Booth.
Slattery became the longest-serving British POW of World War II.
[2] Fifteen Blenheim medium bombers of 107 and 110 Squadrons flew a mission to attack German ships.