LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Walter Stuart COOK
Service No: 421169
Born: Abbotsford NSW, 23 July 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 519 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skitten
Died: Air Operations (No. 519 Squadron Ventura V aircraft F958), Atlantic Ocean, 12 March 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold Thomas Cook, and of Rachel May Cook, of Bondi, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0854 hours on 12 March 1944 Ventura F958 took off from Skitten on a long range meteorological flight. The aircraft was on a track of 350 degrees true from Noup Head to Position 10. Nothing was heard from F958 until the aircraft called Inverness at 1417 hours and passed a meteorological message. At 1521 hours F958 called Inverness for a fix. Inverness replied requesting the aircraft to run for a fix but got no reply. Inverness called again at 1523 hours but got no reply. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft which did not return to base, and no distress signals were received. The last plot on the aircraft was 61.30N 000.53W in the vicinity of the Shetland Islands. Naval and air searches were carried out but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew members was found. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of F958 were:
Squadron Leader Peter John Carpenter (36229) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Walter Stuart Cook (421169) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer George Henry Hart (411890) (RNZAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant Bryan George Overton (128982) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Clyde Thomas Young (R/154828) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
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, 166/8/390