Cannon, Edward Dennis

Flight Sergeant (Pilot)

No. 403424, 504 (RAF) Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force

Killed in an aircraft accident on Monday 9 February 1942 (aged 25)

Buried:

Stoneykirk Cemetery, Wigtownshire, Scotland (Section C. Grave 134)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Taranaki Roll of Honour

New Zealand Fighter Pilots’ Roll of Honour

New Zealand National War Memorial in Wellington

New Zealand Cenotaph Database in Auckland War Memorial Museum

BIOGRAPHY

Dennis Edward Cannon’s birth was registered in the second quarter of 1916 in Kaponga, Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand.  He was married in New Zealand in 1941.

During the Second World War Edward Dennis Cannon from Stratford, Taranaki served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.  On 9 February 1942 Flight Sergeant (Pilot) Edward Dennis Cannon of 504 (RAF) Squadron based at RAF Ballyhalbert took off from RAF Kirkistown in a Supermarine Spitfire aircraft (P8576) which developed an engine cooling problem and had to be abandoned over the sea west of Stranraer.  Flight Sergeant Edward Dennis Cannon (No. 403424) bailed out but did not survive.  His body was later washed ashore, and he was buried south of Stranraer in Stoneykirk Cemetery, Wigtownshire.

Flight Sergeant Edward Dennis Cannon (No. 403424) was 25 when he was killed and he is commemorated on the Taranaki Roll of Honour; on the New Zealand Fighter Pilots’ Roll of Honour; on the New Zealand National War Memorial in Wellington and on the New Zealand Cenotaph Database in Auckland War Memorial Museum.