LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Kenneth SLATER
Service No: 8132
Born: St Peters SA, 3 July 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 January 1940 (at RAAF Station Laverton VIC)
Unit: No. 1 Bombing and Gunnery School (RCAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Bombing and Gunnery School Bolingbroke aircraft 9113), Lake Erie, Ontario, 23 July 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Jarvis (Knox Presbyterian Church) Cemetery, Ontario
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold Mobbs Slater and Florence May Slater, of St. Peters, South Australia
Roll of Honour: St Peters SA
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On the 23rd July 1942, Bolingbroke 9113 was engaged in a routine gunnery exercise, and at approximately 1345 hours the aircraft was observed to dive into Lake Erie, one and a half miles off Peacock Point near Jarvis, Ontario, Canada, and about four miles south west of the aerodrome. All on board lost their lives.
The crew members of 9113 were:
Leading Aircraftman Harold Burnep (R/53020) (RCAF)
Leading Aircraftman Solwyn Saunder Schwartz (R/125590) (RCAF) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Kenneth Slater (8132) (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman John Strainer Williams (657576) (RAF)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/162/411