MITCHELL, Frank Rewi
| Service Number: | 1036 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 October 1916, Goulburn, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | First Class Air Mechanic |
| Last Unit: | Australian Flying Corps (AFC) |
| Born: | Sydney, New South Wales, 23 February 1894 |
| Home Town: | Goulburn, Goulburn Mulwaree, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Engineer |
| Died: | Accidental (air crash), Tamworth, New South Wales, 31 May 1930, aged 36 years |
| Cemetery: |
Woronora Memorial Park, Sutherland, New South Wales Anglican Monumental Section AF Grave 421 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Oct 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1036, Goulburn, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan 1917: | Involvement Second Class Air Mechanic, 1036, No. 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Omrah embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 17 Jan 1917: | Embarked Second Class Air Mechanic, 1036, No. 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, RMS Omrah, Melbourne | |
| 29 Jun 1917: | Transferred Second Class Air Mechanic, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps | |
| 1 Aug 1918: | Promoted First Class Air Mechanic, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps | |
| 29 Jun 1920: | Discharged First Class Air Mechanic, 1036, Australian Flying Corps (AFC) |
Help us honour Frank Rewi Mitchell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Sarah Mitchell
"PILOT FRANK MITCHELL KILLED.
Pilot Prank Mitchell, well-known at Coffs Harbour, and a local young man (Harvey West) were killed instantly at Tamworth on Saturday when his machine nose-dived from a height of 1000 feet and crashed into the ground with a sickening thud. The machine crashed in the middle of a roadway in a populous area. Thirty feet either way would almost certainly, have brought death to others. A report from Tamworth on Saturday stated;—
"Mitchell arrived at Tamworth in his plane yesterday, and for a couple of hours this morning had been flying over the town. Shortly after eleven o'clock the plane took off from the aerodrome, piloted by West, who was being instructed by Mitchell. West was the holder of an A license, obtained at Mascot twelve months ago. After flying over the town at a low altitude, the plane rose to about 2000 feet.
HEARD A MILE AWAY.
Suddenly it started to descend in a circular movement, went into a nose spin, and crashed, with a noise heard a mile away, into Dennison Street. Police and ambulance men had to lever the engine and fuselage away before the smashed remains of West and Mitchell could be removed. Thousands of horrified eyes saw the smash. Flying low over the town, the engine in the plane had been shut off at frequent intervals, and then "revved" up at a tremendous rate. The machine, to onlookers, had been following an uncertain course. Before the crash the machine went into a "falling leaf," straightened up, and then got into a nose-spin. Apparently while West was trying to get out of this the engine failed, for the machine fell the last four or five hundred feet nose first. A portion of tne propeller blade fell on a nearby house before the machine struck the ground. Serations on it indicated that the propeller had not been running true. Harvey West was the son of a farmer at Upper Manilla, and was 28 years of ago. Pilot Mitchell was 32 years of age and leaves a wife and three young children in Sydney. He had a long record of flying hours and for some time past has been attached to the Holden School of Flying. In that capacity he has been at Coffs Harbour on a number of occasions with the "Canberra Pup." At the war he was a ground engineer. He accompanied Captain Les. Holden in the Canberra when she found the Southern Cross in North-West Aus tralia. The plane he was flying when he crashed on Saturday was Mr. Bettington's Avro Avrian. The bodies of tile two men were so badly mutilated that they were almost unrecognisable." - from the Coffs Harbour Advocate 03 Jun 1930 (nla.gov.au)
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