5

D. D. COATES.
2.
Cambridgeshire, for a course on Stirling bomber aircraft
prior to being posted to No. 75 Squadron, Mildenhall,
Suffolk, on the 19th May. With No. 75 Sqd. he carried out,
as navigator on a Stirling bomber aircraft, one minelaying
mission in the Frisian Islands area.
On the 25th May, 1943, Sgt. Coates was navigator
of a Stirling bomber aircraft which took off from Mildenhall
for the taget of Dusseldorf and failed to return to its base.
This was his 2nd operational flight. All the members of the
crew, including Sgt. Coates, were reported missing. Later,
information received from Air Ministry stated that the crew of
a vessel recovered the body of Sgt. Coates from the sea off the
Belgian coast between le Coq-sur-Mer and Catende. In consequence
of this he was reclassified missing, believed killed in action.
Further information, received from the International Red Cross
Committee, quoting German information, revealed that he was
buried in the Parish Cemetery, Ostende. Subsequently his death
was officially presumed.
The other RNZAF members of the crew were Sgt. T.W. Darton (Pilot) of Gisborne, and Sgt. J.M.P. Riordan (A/B) of Auckland.

5/2/9960 AS2
282 hrs, as navigator

Mrs. W. Z. Coates (W)
2 Delhi Road,
NAPIER