Remembering World War II

Name: Richard Coates Rank: Civilian Radio Officer Service Number: Civilian Service: Canadian Air Transport Auxiliary, RAF Ferry Command Date of Birth: 1907-1908 Place of Birth: Hartlepool, County Durham, England Address at Enlistment: Dartmouth, Halifax Co., Nova Scotia Marital Status: Married Occupation: Wireless, Marconi Company, Halifax, NS Date of Death: August 14, 1941 Age: 33 or 34 Cemetery: Ayr Cemetery, Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland Grave: Section R, 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2750-2763 Not currently commemorated in Canada’s Second World War Book of Remembrance by name. Page 609 of the Book is Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on December 26-27 and honors those not recorded by name Richard Coates was the son of Mr. Richard Coates and Mrs. Richard Coates of Milton Road, West Hartlepool, County Durham, England, and the brother of Edna Coates and Irene Coates. Richard married and had one son. Richard’s cousin, W. Whitworth died of injuries sustained during an enemy air raid in England, while serving as a fire warden during the bombing. Richard was educated at Avenue Road School in West Hartlepool under Mr. W M Shields. When he was 15, he immigrated to Canada and, for a time, lived with an aunt in Saskatchewan. In Ontario, he worked as a wireless operator, first on the Steamer vessel Coalfax, and later for the Barriefield wireless station in Kingston. His uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John Coates, were living in Kingston on Connaught Ave., as well as two other aunts and uncles, namely Mr. and Mrs. John Kingston, also of Connaught Ave., and Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Easson of Birch Ave. When the war began, Richard held a responsible position with the Marconi Company’s headquarters in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Radio Officer Coates was engaged on the trans-Atlantic ferry service for several months, which included serving on a ferry flight piloted by flying “ace” Miss Jacqueline Cochran, the first women to pilot a bomber (a Hudson) across the Atlantic. Based in Dorval, Quebec, Richard served on a ferry flight in August of 1941. Once bombers were delivered to the United Kingdom, pilots and aircrew needed to be flown back to North American as passengers to deliver the next bombers. On August 14, 1941, Richard was aboard the RAF Ferry Command’s Return Ferry Service Liberator I aircraft AM 260. Tragically, Liberator AM 260 crashed and burned when it veered off the runway while taking-off from Heathfield Aerodrome in Ayr, Scotland, on a return flight to Ferry Command Headquarters in Dorval, Quebec. 22 civilian aircrew and passengers were killed which included: Pilot EB Anding, American civilian, Air Transport Auxiliary Pilot MB Dilley, American civilian Pilot AC Earl, American civilian Pilot E Hamel, American civilian Pilot G Hull, American civilian Pilot JJ Kerwin, American civilian Pilot PF Lee Jr., Air Transport Auxiliary, American civilian Pilot JJ Moffat, Canadian civilian Pilot Captain RC Stafford DFM, BOAC, British civilian Pilot WL Trimble, Air Transport Auxiliary, American civilian Pilot EW Watson, American civilian Pilot MJ Wetzel, Air Transport Auxiliary, American civilian Radio Officer Richard Coates, Canadian civilian Radio Officer JP Culbert, British civilian Radio Officer RA Duncan, Canadian civilian Radio Officer WFJ Goddard, Canadian civilian Radio Officer DN Hannant, Canadian civilian Radio Officer John Joseph MacDonald, Canadian civilian Radio Officer G McKay, Canadian civilian Radio Officer A Tamblin, Canadian civilian Flight Engineer RF Davis, American civilian Sir Arthur Blaikie Purvis Sr., Canadian civilian passenger Head of the British Purchasing Commission (resident of Montreal) Richard was interred at the Ayr Cemetery in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland in the United Kingdom. A second man with ties to Nova Scotia who was also a casualty of Liberator AM260, John Joseph MacDonald of Sydney, Cape Breton, also served as a Civilian Radio Operator with Ferry Command.

Richard Coates

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission Canadian Virtual War Memorial Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, Saturday, August 16, 1941, Page 20 The Kingston Whig Standard, Kingston, Ontario, August 18, 1941, Page 2

The Kingston Whig Standard, August 18, 1941, Page 2