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David Stuart Gillander
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Farmer, war veteran.
Born at Elva on 27 July 1909, the fifth of seven children born to farmers David Gillander and Catherine “Katie” McRae, he graduated grade 10 from the Elva High School in 1926. On 28 November 1940, he married Myrtle Evelyn Riddell (?-?) at Pierson and they had two children: David Gerald Gillander (1941-?) and daughter Gwendelyn Katherine Gillander (1943-?). He was working as a farmer when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force on 10 October 1941.
On 7 December 1942, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant when he qualified as a wireless operator/air gunner. On 16 May 1943, he departed Halifax for England where, on 7 June 1943, he was promoted to the rank of Flight Sergeant. On 12 December 1943, he was promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer Class II and, on 29 February 1944, he was assigned to 161 (Special Duties) Squadron at RAF Station Tempsford, England.
On 28 March 1944, he was a member of the four-man crew on Hudson Mk III aircraft FK767 that took off from RAF Station Tempsford and crashed near Henlow in Bedfordshire, England, during a low altitude parachute dropping exercise. After the aircraft captain reported that he could not find the reception lights on Henlow Airfield, he was ordered to try again. On the second attempt, the aircraft stalled in a steep climb to port and crashed vertically into the ground. At the time of the accident, ‘conditions of poor visibility [were] prevailing’ and the pilot may have been fixated on looking for the reception lights.
He was laid to rest in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England, by an RCAF chaplain. In 1972, the Province of Manitoba named Gillander Lake in his honour.
Birth registration [David Stuart Gillander], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [David Stuart Gillander, Myrtle Evelyn Riddell], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
This page was prepared by Robert Nash.
Page revised: 24 May 2024
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