LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Reginald Francis CANAVAN
Service No: 422126
Born: Cloncurry QLD, 31 March 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 6 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Silloth
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 6 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft LB137), Scotland, 2 December 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Campbell Town (Kilkerran) Cemetery, Argyllshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert Reginald and Annie Florence Canavan, of Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ashfield NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 2nd December 1943, Wellington LB137 took off from Silloth detailed to carry out a non-operational training exercise. The aircraft failed to return, and it was found the next day crashed into a hill on the southern tip of the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland and all the crew members had been killed. It was believed that the aircraft became lost and that owing to a low cloud was probably flying low when it crashed.
The crew members of LB137 were:
Flight Sergeant Reginald Francis Canavan (422126) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Charles Clifton Cooper (420449) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Harry Oxley Dransfield (132785) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jeffrey Alfred Duddridge (1337561) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Victor Francis Suttor (412750) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Robert John Wardrop (422003) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 422126