Pritchard, Francis Charles (Pilot Officer)

Killed in Flying Accident 1944-January-19

Pilot Officer Francis Charles Pritchard RCAF

Birth Date: 1915

Born:

Son of George F. Pritchard and Vera M. Pritchard, of Toronto; husband of Helen Pritchard, of Toronto.

Home: Toronto, Ontario

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

34 EFTS- Elementary Flying Training School (RAF)

Base

Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Canada

Rank

Pilot Officer

Position

Pilot Officer

Service Numbers

J/35296

Home

Toronto, Ontario

Final Burial

Park Lawn Cemetery
Grave 742

Pilot Officer Pritchard and Leading Aircraftman W.C. Lockhart (RAF) were on an instructional flight when the port wing of Cornell aircraft 10863 broke away away during flight. They were killed when the aircraft crashed two and one half miles south-west of Assiniboia.

Canada Primary Source School Daily Diary Entry - 1944-01-19

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.findagrave.com

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Crew or Other Personnel

Cornell 10863

Leading Aircraftman William Crawford Lockhart RAFVR

Leading Aircraftman Lockhart, William Crawford (RAFVR)

Killed in Flying Accident
1944-January-19
Mount Hope Cemetery, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Canada

Pilot Officer Francis Charles Pritchard RCAF

Pilot Officer Pritchard, Francis Charles (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1944-January-19
Park Lawn Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Cornell serial: 10863

Fairchild Cornell Mk. II
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

In early 1942, an agreement was signed between the Canadian Government and Fairchild Aircraft, which licenced Fleet Aircraft of Fort Erie, Ontario to construct the PT-26 Cornell in Canada. The first 800 Cornells used by the RCAF were supplied from Fairchild, until production commenced at Fort Erie in November 1942. By the end of the war in 1945, 2,853 Cornells had been built by Fleet - 1,565 for the RCAF and 1,288 for the RAF.

PT-26 Cornells were flown at many of the Elementary Flying Training Schools (EFTS) of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, where they replaced the Fleet Finch and the de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane trainers. After the Second World War, many Cornells were sold to the civilian market, but some were retained by the RCAF, where they were finally retired in 1948. CWPHM

YouTube Cornell Trainer

Wikipedia Cornell Trainer

unvetted Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Unit Desciption

34 EFTS (34 Elementary Flying Training School)

An Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) gave a trainee 50 hours of basic flying instruction on a simple trainer like the De Havilland Tiger Moth, Fleet Finch, or Fairchild Cornell over 8 weeks.Elementary schools were operated by civilian flying clubs under contract to the RCAF and most of the instructors were civilians. For example, No. 12 EFTS Goderich was run by the Kitchener-Waterloo Flying Club and the County of Huron Flying Club.The next step for a pilot was the Service Flying Training School.