Flight-Lieutenant Cyril Whelan (WHE7747)

Basic Information

Unique reference:

WHE7747

Other surname:

Waxman

Gender:

Male

Birth

Date of birth:

10 Nisan 5659 (21 March 1899)

Place of birth:

Melbourne , Australia

Death

Date of death:

13 Iyyar 5678 (25 April 1918)

Died in combat?:

Place of death:

Ashford , Kent

Cause of death:

Mid-air collision

Burial place:

St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green, Brent

Places

Addresses

Parents home :

221 Brixton Hill Brixton, London

Cyril's Father, Albert who had changed his name to Albert Whelan, left Autralia in the early 1900s to come to Britain with his young son, to pursue what turned out to be a successful career as an film actor and music hall performer.

Cyril was educated at St Edmunds College, Ware. He was 18 years old when he enlisted in the RFC in March 1917 and was their youngest flier and a very gifted aviator. Over the next 12 months he had advanced to stunt instructor having gained a wide experience on a variety of different RFC aeroplanes. He joined the 42nd training school at Wye in January 1918 as an instructor to train British and Canadian pilots for the Western Front.

Tragedy stuck at 6.45 in the evening of 25 April 1918 when Cyril's Avro 504 trainer collided in mid-air with a Sopwith Pup flown by his cousin Alwyn Levy .

No one knows what actually happened but it appears that that the cousins were attempting to signal each other resulting in disastrous consequences. Alwyn was buried at Willesden Jewish cemetery and Cyril at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green, Brent.

Their deaths were tragic loss for not only their parents but also for the Levy family back in Australia as only a month earlier another their cousin’s, Sergeant Albert Levy, MM had been killed in France.

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