Keith Pettiford
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia | 15 February 1915|||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 20 November 1942 near Upper Hulme, England | (aged 27)|||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Wing | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: [1] |
Keith Pettiford (15 February 1915 – 20 November 1942) was an Australian RAAF officer who died in WWII and rugby league footballer who played in the New South Wales Rugby League for Sydney University.[1]
Early life and rugby league career
[edit]Pettiford was born on 15 February 1915 in Wollongong to parents Henry Augustine and Ellen Scott Pettiford.[1][2][3] He graduated from the University of Sydney with a B.A. degree, and appeared once as wing for the university's rugby league team in 1937.[1][2]
Military career
[edit]Pettiford worked as a public school teacher in his hometown of Wollongong.[4] He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 28 April 1941 in Sydney.[3] Rising through the ranks to flying officer, Pettiford served in England as part of No. 27 Operations Training Unit RAF, flying Vickers Wellington bombers from RAF Lichfield.[5] On 20 November 1942, serving as a flight navigator on Vickers Wellington Z1744, Pettiford and the other five crewmen aboard were killed when the bomber crashed near Upper Hulme.[5] The Wellington had been intercepted by two American Supermarine Spitfires while the bomber was conducting a training flight. One of the fighters cut the radio line used to communicate with the airbase, causing Z1744's crew to become disoriented and to eventually crash.[5] Pettiford and the other Australian casualties were buried in Fradley (St. Stephen) Cemetery.[2]
Career statistics
[edit]Club | Season | Division | League | Other | Total | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Tries | Goals | Points | Apps | Tries | Goals | Points | Apps | Tries | Goals | Points | |||
University | 1937 | New South Wales Rugby League[1] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Career total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Keith Pettiford – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- ^ a b c "Casualty Details: Pettiford, Keith". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- ^ a b "World War Two Service". Australian Government – Department of Veteran's Affairs. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- ^ N.S.W. Teachers' Federation (21 November 1945). "New South Wales Public School Teachers Who Lost Their Lives in World War II (21 November 1945)". Education: Journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation. Vol. 27, no. 1. The Federation. p. 7. ISSN 0013-1156.
- ^ a b c "Wellington Mk.III Z1744 of No.27 Operational Training Unit, crashed close to Upper Hulme, near Leek, on the 20th November 1942 whilst on a practice bombing and photography flight from Church Broughton airfield". Peak District Air Accident Research. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- 1915 births
- 1942 deaths
- Australian military personnel killed in World War II
- Australian rugby league players
- Australian schoolteachers
- Flight navigators
- Royal Australian Air Force officers
- Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II
- Rugby league players from Wollongong
- Rugby league wingers
- Sydney University rugby league team players
- University of Sydney alumni