LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Keith Kipling COX

Service No: 400141
Born: Melbourne VIC, 17 August 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1940
Unit: Aircraft Development Unit (RAF), RAF Station Croydon
Died: Aircraft Accident (Aircraft Development Unit Spitfire aircraft AR448), Croydon, 23 January 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Kipling Cox and Louisa Maud Cox, of St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: St Kilda VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1115 hours on 23 January 1944, Spitfire AR448 crashed at Croydon during a non-operational day flight and Flying Officer Cox was killed.

A Court of Inquiry into the accident stated: “the pilot stalled the aircraft when doing a slow roll at about 1,000 feet and flicked on his back. He tried to half roll and pull out from this position, but did not quite clear the ground at the edge of the aerodrome. The Plot had been engaged on flying duties for a long time, and obviously his aerobatics were bad. The accidence was a clear case of disobedience of orders in the Pilot attempted aerobatics in the aerodrome circuit area over a built up area at 1,000 feet without authority.”

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, 166/8/351 166/8/9

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