Lt PB Franklin

The Dreaded Telegram

Flying Officer Roger Franklin and Lt Peter Franklin were born in Britain. Peter’s parents lived in Hillcrest and Roger’s in Balgowan close to Michaelhouse where Peter was educated and if cousins, the telegram delivered to Hillcrest on August 26th would have been sshared. Twenty-five-year-old Lt Peter Blundell Franklin was in the group of seconded SAAF airmen who disembarked from the “Rangitata” in Liverpool in November 1943. Franklin and Captain IF Watson another seconded SAAF pilot, reported for Halifax training at No 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Wombledon on July 21st. Franklin had all but completed training when propeller blades on his Halifax engines broke up during a night cross country training flight on August 24th. The crash left no survivors.