LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Francis Cokayne FRITH
Service No: 427082
Born: West Perth WA, 11 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 May 1942
Unit: No. 6 Operational Training Unit, Jervis Bay, NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 6 Operational Training Unit Beaufort aircraft A9-194), St Georges Basin NSW, 17 January 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Nowra War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Cyril Armitriding Frith and Helen Edith Frith, of West Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: West Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On 17 January 1944, Bristol Beaufort A9-194 crashed at St George’s Basin, near Nowra NSW, killing all on board. The aircraft was making a landing approach when banked into a steep turn, its nose dropped, following which power was applied, but the aircraft dived and exploded on impact.
The crew members of A9-194 were:
Flight Sergeant Frank Harold Appledore (416480) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Frederick Francis Doepel (412925) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Lloyd George Freeman (408647) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Francis Cokayne Frith (427082) (Observer)
Flying Officer Douglas William Thomas (285135) (Observer Instructor)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 247
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990