Operation: Training
Date: 01st October 1941 (Wednesday)
Unit: No. 772 Squadron (Fleet Air Arm)
Type: Blackburn Roc
Serial: L3073
Code: Not known
Base: HMS Landrail (Mchrihanish, Argylleshire)
Location: Sound of Jura
Pilot: Sub. Lt. (A) John William Terence Cooper RNZNVR Age 21. Killed
Air/Gnr: LAC. Joseph Stewart P/JX 201416 RN Age 21. Killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
Very few details but it seems that they're on a training exercise en-route to Fort William when they flew into a hill in low visibility at Airdo Farm, one mile NE of Craignish Point on the Sound of Jura. Both crew members were killed instantly.
Sub.Lt. Cooper was †he first member of the RNZNVR to lose his life in the war.
Burial details:
Sub. Lt. John William Terence Cooper. Oban Cemetery (Pennyfuir) Section 1. Grave 315. Son of John George and Mary Margaret Cooper, of Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand.
Air/Gnr: LAC. Joseph Stewart. Paisley Cemetery (Hawkhead) Section S. Grave 1184. Son of Joseph and Agnes Stewart, of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand, With thanks to Helen Davy in New Zealand for photographs and press cuttings.other sources as quoted below:
