LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Cecil RHODES
Service No: 421465
Born: Parramatta NSW, 2 December 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942
Unit: No. 21 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Enstone
Died: Illness, No. 3 RAAF Hospital, Sydney NSW, 21 May 1946, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Sydney War Cemetery, Rookwood NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest and Catherine Ross Rhodes, of Parramatta
Roll of Honour: Parramatta NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Warrant Officer Rhodes (Air Gunner) died of an illness on 21 May 1946. He was severely burned in the loss of Wellington Z1142 and was repatriated to Australia on 30 January 1944 and admitted to No 3 RAAF Hospital for continuing treatment. He died at the Hospital.
During a training flight on 15 April 1943, No. 21 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft Z1142 crashed into the Wind Sock at Enstone Airfield, Oxfordshire. Three crew members were killed and Warrant Officer Rhodes suffered extensive burns.
The crew members of Z1142 were:
Flying Officer Geoffrey Henry David Druce (130571) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Charles Alfred Good (1476182) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Cecil Rhodes (421465) (Air Gunner) Severely injured: Burns
Sergeant Frank Cecil Townsend (1385329) (RAFVR)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 7 Operational Training Units 1940-1947, Midland Counties Publications UK, 2002
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/35/49