410407 - Unaccounted airmen - 7-4-1941

[Henk Welting]

What caused the death of and/or what were the places of death registration for:

P/O (Pilot) John A.G. CORNELIUS-WHEELER - 61495 - killed on active service;
AC2 William T. GIBBS - 926798 - not found Flight archives;
Sgt Gordon A. McKENZIE - 905025 - not found Flight archives;
AC2 Robert H. STORRY - 1015041 - not found Flight archives, and
Cpl Murdock TAYLOR - 542544 - 612 Sqn (Wick, Caithness) - not found Flight archives.

Proposed aircft losses for this day:

Battle Trainer - P6769 - 12 FTS - crashed in forced landing Harfaxton.
Oxford I - V3334 - 11 FTS - overshot landing at night Shawbury.
Tiger Moth II - T7221 - 4 EFTS - collided with ??? near Brough.

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

[Dick]

Hi Henk
Cornelius-Wheeler ,19, is registered at Andover(?belated death from the Hind K6845), Gibbs, 30 is registered at Weymouth, Dorset, Storry,26, is registered at Cambridge, there is a Murdoch Taylor, 23, registered in Fulham ,S W London, the spelling is different to yours and a connection to a Scottish based Sqn is not easy to see in what was possibly an Air raid victim.CWGC has Taylor's parents in Glasgow but he is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery which is a section of the Victorian London Necropolis created in about 1837 to take London dead away from overcrowded churchyards and with the military Section opened in 1917
T7221 collided with BB741(also a Tiger Moth). BB741 must have survived because it passed on to 268 Sqn and then became a maintenance airframe in 1944 at Blackpool as 4689M.(Air Britain Serials)
Regards
Dick

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Dick. Let's see what others like Amrit, Dave, Paul, will come up for Cornelius-Wheeler. Hind K6845 (6-4-1941) and died the day after sounds acceptable.
Regards,
Henk.

[thorne83]

Oxford V3334 was piloted by LAC K Marshall (1169263) who was slightly injured but suffered from severe shock. He was later KIA with 207 Squadron on 29th July 1944 as a F/Lt.

Tom

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Tom for this additional info on Oxford V3334 and LAC (F/Lt) MARSHALL.
Regards,
Henk.

[paulmcmillan]

P/O (Pilot) John A.G. CORNELIUS-WHEELER - 61495 - killed on active service


This would have been the veteran BBC Broadcaster Sir Charles Wheeler's (who died very recently) elder brother!

http://news.scotsman.com/obituaries/Sir-Charles-Wheeler.4264156.jp

[dennis_burke]

AC2 W T Gibbs is DOAS Jun 19th magazine

May 22nd magazine:
MISSING, BELIEVED KILLED ON ACTIVE SERVICE (WHILE ENCAGED ON NON-OPERATIONAL
FLYING DUTIEB OH ON THE GROUND THROUGH ENEMY ACTION).—Bennett, Squad. Ldr. R. J.;
Carr, Ldg. A/C. J. T.; Cook, Sgt. G. E.; Cross, Sgt. P. J.; Kerridge, Sgt. C. W.; McKenzie, Sgt. G. A.

GRO RAF list gives his unit as 55 OTU but names him George not Gordon.

Storry, A/C 2nd Cl. R. H. is DOAS in same magazine.

I can;t see Taylor in Fligth magazine.

[wwrsimon]

Hello

P/O (Pilot) John A.G. CORNELIUS-WHEELER - 61495 - the Graves Registration Report From lists him as being with 2 S. of A.C.

Cpl Murdock TAYLOR - 542544 - the Fulham Chronicle of April 25th 1941 reported the following:

R.A.F. CORPORAL FOUND DROWNED
A Wandsworth Bridge Mystery
At Hammersmith Coroner's Court on Thursday Mr. Neville Stafford held an inquest on Murdoch Taylor (23), a temporary corporal in the Royal Air Force. His parents live at Eaglesham Street, Glasgow. On april 7 he was found drowned in the Thames.
Inspector Herbert West, Thams Police, said he found the body floating in the river near Wandsworth Bridge.
Dr. J. S Higgs, police surgeon, said he examined the body...he formed the opinion that deceased had been in the river two or three weeks. Death was due to drowning.
The Coroner said there was insufficient evidence to determine the circumstances in which deceased got into the river. He recorded a verdict of "Found Drowned."

Regards

Simon

[jonheyworth]

Henry Thomas Chipp 33581 , was killed in a MT accident

[jonheyworth]

William Thomas Gibbs 962798 , who had recently been attached to Number 10 SoTT, died on leave, whilst awaiting posting, of meningitis

[jonheyworth]

Jack Riley 1152956 , was admitted dead to Number 24 Australian General hospital having been knocked of the side of a lorry in a sideswipe accident with a passing lorry

[jonheyworth]

Robert Henry Storry 1015041 ,attached to RAF Bassingbourn, was killed at RAF Steeple Morden when struck by an Airscrew

[jonheyworth]

John Arthur George Cornelius-Wheeler 61495 | was killed at RAF Andover at 22:45 Hours when a single enemy aircraft dropped 20 HE bombs and machine gunned the Aerodrome