LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Davis Farquhar CAPEL
Service No: 404602
Born: Bingara NSW, 6 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1940 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 220 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Nutts Corner
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 217 Squadron Fortress aircraft FK207), Northern Ireland, 10 August 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Killead (St Catherine) Church of Ireland Cemetery, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Raymond Cecil and Irene May Capel, of Goondiwindi, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Goondiwindi QLD
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 10 August 1942 Fortress FK207 took off, from Nutts Corner detailed to carry out a night convoy operational patrol. The aircraft crashed and all the crew members were killed. A Court of Inquiry into the accident stated: “the aircraft passed over the aerodrome at Nutts Corner at about 2330 hours, turned left as if to turn in on the runway. When immediately downwind of the runway the aircraft dived into the ground, caught fire and disintegrated with the bomb load exploding. The weather at the time was poor with low cloud which forced the aircraft to fly very close to rising ground.” The Group Captain Commanding RAF Ballykelly Station stated: “this appears to be a case of losing flying speed in a turn at too low an altitude to permit recovery.” All the crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of FK207 were:
Warrant Officer Ernest William Bristow (745118) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Davis Farquhar Capel (404602) (Observer)
Sergeant Philip Gerard Foster (1158929) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Victor Clarence Fretter (751381) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harry Garcia (931532) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Gordon Alan Sanderson (128370) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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 A705, 163/95/342