LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Alan COOK
Service No: 400696
Born: Ballarat VIC, 21 April 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 October 1940
Unit: No. 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Marham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 218 Squadron Wellington aircraft R1135), North Sea, 16 November 1941, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Cook, and of Ellen Ann Cook, of Horsham, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2217 hours on the night on 15 November 1941 Wellington R1135 took off from Marham to attack Kiel, Germany. At 0212 hours on 16 November 1941 a distress message was received from the aircraft when on its return journey and well out over the North Sea. Attempts were made to locate the missing aircraft but without success. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in the 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of R1135 were
Sergeant Alan Cook (400696) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jack Birton Drury (968019) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Robert Edmund Glenny (1021175) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Robert Neville Hannam (1006118) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Fred Charles Reeve (1168648) (RAFVR)
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, 163/98/360