LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant William John Francis COOTE
Service No: 253938
Born: Melbourne VIC, 25 November 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 May 1941 (at Camden NSW)
Unit: No. 31 Squadron, Coomalie Creek NT
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-193), near Coomalie NT, 3 July 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery, NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Thomas Coote and Martha Margaret Coote; husband of Maisie Lillian Coote, of East Melbourne, Victoria.
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 16 March 1944, Flight Lieutenant Coote survived the crash of Beaufort aircraft A9-450 in which Leading Aircraftman Cyril Ernest Harding (64059) was killed.
On 3 July 1944, A19-193 crashed and burned north west of Coomalie. On board were:
Flight Lieutenant William John Francis Coote (253938) (Pilot)
Corporal Kevin Harold Crouch (17110) (Fitter IIA, Supernumerary)
Warrant Officer Thomas James Matthew Dillon (424995) (Second Pilot) Seriously Injured, discharged from the RAAF: 4 December 1945
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, 21
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990