LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Keith Merton COCHRANE
Service No: 402639
Born: Harden NSW, 6 February 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: No. 37 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 37 Squadron Wellington aircraft AD642), Egypt, 19 April 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Thomas Cochrane and Eva Myrtle Cochrane, of Bega, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bega NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Bega Valley Shire Council War Memorial, Bega NSW
Remembered: Bega Soldiers Memorial Gates, Bega NSW
At 2236 hours on 18 April 1942, Wellington AD642 took off to attack shipping at Benghazi. Bad weather forced the abandonment of the mission, and on return the aircraft flew into the ground 5 km south east of Landing Ground 09, probably while the crew were trying to ascertain their position. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of AD642 were:
Sergeant Eric Bailey (1168051) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Keith Merton Cochrane (402639) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Raymond Edgar Lloyd (403608) (RNZAF) (Observer)
Sergeant Claude Kenneth Nurse (755899) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Michael George Cameron Scanlon (1051680) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Bryan Roy Steward (1256527) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
Gunby D (David) and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1 1939-1942, Midland Publishing UK, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 402639
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line