LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Geoffrey Landas COHEN
Service No: 402212
Born: Sydney NSW, 16 June 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 June 1940
Unit: No. 25 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 25 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X3177), Nottinghamshire, 3 August 1941, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Finningley (Holy Trinity and St Oswald) Churchyard Cemetery, Nottinghamshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Bernhard and Beryl Cohen, of Mosman, New South Wales, Australia. F.I.C.A.
Roll of Honour: Mosman NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 3 August 1941, Wellington X3177 took off from RAF Finningley for a night training exercise. Sometime between 0430 and 0530 hours, the bomber hit the ground at high speed, roughly three miles south west of Bawtry, Nottinghamshire. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of X3177 were:
Pilot Officer Geoffrey Landas Cohen (402212) (Observer)
Pilot Officer William Henry Crane (402567) (Observer)
Flying Officer Harry Trevor Gilbert DFC (42833) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Harrison (755521) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edgar James Matthews (1285469) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant Harold Soar (748685) (RAF) (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 A9300, COHEN G L
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line