Kotelmach, Peter Stanley
Killed in Flying Accident 1942-08-07
Birth Date: 1922
Born:
Son of Stanley and Anna Kotelmach, of Krydor.
Home: Krydor, Saskatchewan
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
7 SFTS- Service Flying Training School
Base
MacLeod, Alberta, Canada
Rank
Leading Aircraftman
Position
Leading Aircraftman
Service Numbers
R/128208
Home
Krydor, Saskatchewan
First Burial
Holy Ghost Cemetery, Orlow, Saskatchewan
Anson aircraft 9688 was in the landing approach when it was in a mid-air collision south-east of the airfield at MacLeod, Pilot Officer W.G. Rannie and Leading Aircraftman J.E. Todd were killed in the other aircraft, Anson 6958.
Confirmed by Court of Inquirydocument in the Library and Archives Canada Service Files: Aircraft 9688 flown by Leading Aircraftman Kotelmach turned into wind in clear weather and let down into aircraft 6958 flown by Pilot Officer Ramie. Both aircraft then crashed to the ground locked together.
Findings of Court of Inquiry 
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves CommissionAvro Anson
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The Museum's Anson Mk. V was built by MacDonald Brothers in Winnipeg in 1944. It flew with No. 7 Photographic Wing and No. 414 Squadron in Ottawa on photo survey work until the late 1940s. In 1956, it was purchased by INCO and used for mineral surveying until 1980, when it was donated to the Museum. The exterior is painted in the yellow colour common to all BCATP trainers and is in its same wartime RCAF markings.
The Avro Anson was known by a number of nicknames including "Faithful Annie" or "Flying Greenhouse". It was the first aircraft to be flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force to have a retractable undercarriage, which was a comparative novelty in 1936. In 1940, a Canadian government owned company, Federal Aircraft Limited, was created in Montreal to manufacture the Anson for Canadian use. Nearly 3,000 Anson aircraft were produced and, in the early days of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), the Anson was the standard trainer for many pilots, observers (navigators), wireless operators and bomb aimers. More than 20,000 aircrew received training on the Anson. In Canadian service, the aircraft was substantially re-designed with the substitution of North American engines and many other airframe and equipment changes.Harold Skaarup web pages
Avro Anson History7 SFTS (7 Service Flying Training School)
Graduates of the EFTS "learn-to-fly" program went on a Service Flying Training School (SFTS) for 16 weeks. For the first 8 weeks the trainee was part of an intermediate training squadron; for the next 6 weeks an advanced training squadron and for the final 2 weeks training was conducted at a Bombing & Gunnery School. The Service schools were military establishments run by the RCAF or the RAF.
There were two different types of Service Flying Training Schools. Trainees in the fighter pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 14 Aylmer, where they trained in the North American Harvard or North American Yale. Trainees in the bomber, coastal or transport pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 5 Brantford where they learned multi-engine technique in an Airspeed Oxford, Avro Anson or Cessna Crane.
For More information on RCAF Station Fort McLeod see here
RCAF.info - RCAF Station MacLeod AB
RCAF.info - Relief Landing Field Granum AB
RCAF.info - Relief Landing Field Standoff AB
Bomber Command Museum Of Canada