Birth Date: 1922-December-09
Born:
Parents: Sidney John & Muriel Phyllis Coward
Spouse: Helen Mae Coward, of Barrie, Ontario.
Home: Regina, Saskatchewan (parents)
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RCAF
Unit
1 SFTS- Service Flying Training School
Base
RCAF Stn. Camp Borden, Ontario
Rank
Warrant Officer 1st Class
Position
Pilot
Service Numbers
R/107881
Took off from Camp Borden on a routine training flight.
Aircraft crashed and burned three miles north-west of Phelpston, Ontario after hitting some trees.
Killed includes Coward: Sergeant Kenneth Edward Thomson, RAF, KIFA, Barrie Union Cemetery, Barrie, Ontario - Lot 125. Block A. Sergeant Ralph Edmund Hollingsworth Wood, RAF, KIFA, Glenwood Cemetery, Picton, Ontario - Block N1. Plot 543. Grave 1.
This accident involved 1 aircraft on 1944-November-11. Anson II s/n 8415.
This accident involved 3 people. Coward WJ, Thomson KE, Wood REH
This accident had 3 fatalities. Sergeant Kenneth Edward Thomson RAFVR Killed in Flying Accident service no:1339635 Anson 8415, Sergeant Ralph Edmund Hollingsworth Wood RAFVR Killed in Flying Accident service no:1580405 Anson 8415, Warrant Officer 1st Class William John Coward RCAF Killed in Flying Accident service no:R/107881 Anson 8415
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.
Currently the site of CFB Borden. Heliport and grass strip remains. CYBN
For more Information on RCAF Station Borden see here
RCAF.info - RCAF Station Borden Ontario
RCAF.info - Relief Landing Field Edenvale Ontario
Regina, Saskatchewan (parents)
School Daily Diary Entry - 1944-11-11
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Finadagrave.com
Camp Borden History
YouTube - Valour Canada Aerodrome of Democracy