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Riddett, Walter Herbert (Leading Airman (Acting))

Killed in Flying Accident 1942-February-23

Male Head

Birth Date: 1923 (age 19)

Son of Herbert George and Edith Riddett, of Nomansland, Wiltshire, England.

Service
RN FAA
Unit
31 SFTS- Service Flying Training School (RAF)
Base
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Rank
Position
Service Numbers
FX88430
Col Pilot Officer W E Madden (RCAF), Leading Airman W H Riddett (Royal Navy), Leading Airman C A Treble (Royal Navy): killed; Harvard AJ559 and Harvard AJ572, mid air collision near Collins Bay, Canada, 23 February 1942.

General Harvards Above, A book about 31 Service Flying Training School - In Memoriam

This incident involved multiple aircraft:

  1. Harvard Mk. II Serial: AJ572
  2. Harvard Mk. II Serial: AJ559

All the aircraft in the above list are referenced in this report.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

Burial
Google MapCataraqui Cemetery
Sec G Range 6 Grave 10

Harvard AJ559

Harvard AJ572

North American Harvard NA-26 NA-44

North American Harvard Mk. IV
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The North American Harvard appeared in 1937, in response to a US Air Corps proposal for an advanced trainer. The first of 50 Harvard Mk. Is ordered by the Canadian Government were delivered to RCAF Sea Island, BC in July 1939. By early 1940, the Mk. II was being assembled in California with an all metal fuselage replacing the original tube and fabric structure. 1200 Mk. IIs were supplied from US sources, until Canadian built Harvards started being produced in 1941.

In August 1938, Noorduyn Aviation of Montreal farsightedly signed an agreement with North American, to build the Harvard under licence. When the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into being in December 1939, Noorduyn received its first orders and went on to produce nearly 2800 Harvard Mk. IIBs for the RCAF and the RAF, between 1940 and 1945. In Canada, Harvard Mk. IIBs were used as advanced trainers with the BCATP at fifteen Service Flying Training Schools across the nation. They helped pilots make to the transition from low powered primary trainers, like Fleet Finch or the de Havilland Tiger Moth, to high performance front line fighters such as the Spitfire.

At the end of WW II, although the RCAF retained the Harvard as a trainer, a large number of them were sold off to civilian operators. The RCAF soon regretted this, for by 1949 the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing and the RCAF urgently needed trainers again. 100 T-6J Texans were leased temporarily from the USAF and a further 270 Harvards, the Mk. IV version, were ordered from Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay. The RCAF used the Harvard Mk. IV for a further fifteen years, before finally retiring it in 1966.

A total of 20,110 Harvards were built between 1938 and 1954, 3,370 of them in Canada. Countless numbers of privately owned Harvards are still flying today.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Harvard Mk. IV was built by Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay, Ontario in late 1951. The aircraft saw service at four RCAF flying schools across the nation until it was sold to a civilian owner in 1965. It was the third aircraft to join the Museum after Dennis Bradley, Alan Ness and John Weir donated it in 1973. Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

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General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

last update: 2021-10-19 20:12:13

Harvard Mk. II AJ559

Equipped with Dunlop pneumatic firing gear. Used by No. 31 Service Flying Training School at Kingston, Ontario. Category C damage at 14:15 on 11 November 1941, at Kingston aerodrome. Collided with Harvard AJ572, 4 miles west of Collins Bay, Ontario at 17:20 on 23 February 1942. Both aircraft spun in, and destroyed. Total of 3 fatalities.

1941-07-18 Taken on Strength No. 1 Training Command 2019-08-20
1941-November-11 Accident: 31 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Belchin | Poulson
1942-February-23 Accident: 31 Service Flying Training School Loc: Collins Bay Names: Madden | Riddet | Treble
1942-05-01 Struck off Strength Struck off, reduced to spares and produce at No. 6 Repair Depot 2019-08-20

Harvard AJ572

Harvard Mk. II AJ572

Equipped with Dunlop pneumatic firing gear. Category A crash at 17:20 on 23 February 1942, near Collins Bay, Ontario. Collided with Harvard AJ559, and both aircraft spun in. Total of 3 fatalities. Was with No. 31 Service Flying Training School at Kingston, Ontario at the time.

1941-07-22 Taken on Strength No. 1 Training Command 2019-08-20
1942-February-23 Accident: 31 Service Flying Training School Loc: Collins Bay Names: Madden | Riddet | Treble
1942-05-01 Struck off Strength Struck off, reduced to spares and produce by No. 6 Repair Depot 2019-08-20

31 SFTS (31 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.

SFTS31 Kingston ON

For More information on RCAF Station Kingston see here

RCAF Roundel RCAF.Info - RCAF Station Kingston ON

RCAF Roundel RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Ganaoque ON

RCAF Roundel RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Sandhurst ON

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