Reginald Henry Cornell, 152793, Squadron 627, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1942 – 1944

Not much is known to me regarding my father apart from the fact that my mother was excited when she received a telegram from him telling her he was due to come home on leave in two days time. This telegram was followed up the next day by one telling her that he had been killed.  He was thirty-three years old.

After the enquiry Phyllis Cornell (my mother) was informed that my Dad and Flight Lieutenant Peter Bland, as pilot, took off from Woodhall Spa in a Mosquito aircraft on bombing practice.  When making a shallow dive bombing run the pilot pressed his bomb release button; there was an instantaneous explosion in the bomb bay and the cockpit was filled with smoke.  The pilot gave the order to prepare to abandon the aircraft and put her into a climb to enable them to bale out at a safe height.  Reg, acting on the pilot’s orders, jettisoned the bottom escape hatch and endeavoured to remove the inner door, when the starboard engine became unserviceable, causing the elevator controls to become useless.  The aircraft then started a slow spiral dive.

The pilot succeeded with great difficulty to leave by the roof escape hatch and sustained light injuries, but my Dad had not managed to leave the aircraft in time and was thrown from the forward part just before it hit the ground, death was instantaneous.

He was killed on 19th October 1944 age 33 before he had a chance to meet his daughter, who was five months old at the time of his death.  I was in my fifties before I even found out where he was buried and what had happened to him.  My mother never spoke of him.

In 2005 I visited Dad’s grave for the first time and was impressed with the way the War Graves Commission cared for the site.  It was good to see his final resting place and know that he had done the best he could for his country.

Rest in Peace Dad

You can find out more about Reginald here