LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Terence Raymond COOKE
Service No: 424152
Born: Mudgee NSW, 5 February 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1942
Unit: No. 20 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Lossiemouth
Died: Aircraft accident (No. 20 Operational Training Wellington aircraft X3225), off Jura, Scotland, 1 April 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick George and Amy Cooke, of Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mudgee NSW
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Mudgee Soldiers Club WW2 Roll of Honour, Mudgee NSW
At 1002 hours on 1 April 1944 Wellington X3225 took off from Lossiemouth on a non-operational training flight. The aircraft was seen by the coast guard to be on fire in the air and crash into the sea 4 miles north of the Isle of Jura, Scotland. One crew member’s body was recovered and it was recorded in 1949 that the remaining four missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of X3225 were:
Flight Sergeant Terence Raymond Cooke (424152) (Pilot)
Sergeant Geoffrey Hodgson (1686216) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Gerwyn Winton Lewis (R/168700) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Arthur Edgar Robertshaw (1592545) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Henry Stafford (1399018) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/8/416
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line