Operation: Training

Date: 26th April 1944 (Wednesday)

Unit: No. 771 Squadron. Fleet Air Arm (motto: Non Nobis Solum - 'Not unto us alone')

Type: Blackburn Skua II

Serial: L2951

Code: -

Base: HMS Tern, Twatt, Orney

Location: North Atlantic Ocean

Pilot: Sub. Lt. (A) Louis Frank Weatherall RNZNVR Age 22. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr. LA (TY). Derrick Read RN FX.113680 Age 19. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

It seems that following an engine failure the pilot attempted to ditch into the sea at between 14:30 - 15: hrs.

A search was instigated at the position some 6 miles west of Stromness, but only the body of the pilot was recovered by a surface vessel.

Burial details:

Sub. Lt. (A) Louis Frank Weatherall. Kirkwall Cemetery. (St. Olaf's). Plot 33. Grave 8. Born on the 11th March 1933 at Invercargill, the son of Francis William and Louisa Culf Weatherall (née Mason), of Ettrick, Otago, New Zealand. A civil servant for Lands and Survey Department at Wellington. Enlisted on the 01st October 1941 and awarded his pilots badge on the 08th May 1942.

LA (TY). Derrick Read. Lee-On-Solent Memorial. Bay 5, Panel 3. Born on the 11th February 1925 at Frontbeck, the son of Richard and Annie Read, of Crook, Westmorland, England.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Jenifer Lemaire and to the extensive research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Library Heritage Collection, Weekly News of New Zealand, also to Aviation Research Group Orkney and Shetland, other sources as quoted below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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