1944 June Quarter death registration (three entries)-
1. Name: Maitland, S. (Male)---Age: ?
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111)
AND
2. Name: Maitland, Stephen---Age: 3[21]
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111A)
AND
3. Name: Mate, Steve---Age: 32
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111A)
RAF 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft, with fourteen air crew members and passengers aboard, had taken off from RAF Station St. Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall, on a scheduled service flight (England to Algiers Maison Blance airport, via Gibraltar), when it exploded in mid-air and crashed into Watergate Bay near Newquay Bay. All 14 on board the aircraft perished in the crash. The Warwick was thought to be carrying several top-secret agents, military advisers, linguists and top-secret documents, as well as thousands of £100 bills and possibly boxes of gold (thought to be for use in helping to finance European underground groups).
The passengers included two French officers enroute to meet with General Charles DeGaulle in Cairo; two Polish couriers enroute to Warsaw; one senior staff officer enroute to Cairo; one Greek expert enroute to Greece; one Hungarian/Canadian enroute to Hungary on an S. O. E. mission; three S. O. E. officers; and one Russian-speaking MI6 officer enroute to Yugoslavia to meet with Tito partisans.
The 525 Squadron members who perished in this accident were:
RCAF Flying Officer Harold Calven AUSTEN,
RAFVR Flying Officer Albert George Tracey GARDINER,
RCAF Flying Officer Arthur Douglas GAVEL,
RAF Pilot Officer George William LAMB,
RAFVR Flying Officer Noel Spencer NICKLIN,
RAFVR Flight Sergeant Michael Kingston ROWE and
RAF Squadron Leader William Godfrey TILEY.
The passengers were:-
Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Watkins BIRTS,
RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour DAWSON-DAMER, Viscount CARLOW,
Lieutenant Colonel Stanley CASSON,
Lieutenant Stephen MAITLAND (using the alias, Lieutenant Stephen MATE)
(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: Steve Mate (Civilian), Stephen Mate (General List) and Stephen Maitland [Alias]),
Major Thomas Percival WARD and
From the Canadian Virtual War Memorial-
Military Service:-
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 84000
Service: Army
Unit: General List; SOE Officer [SOE=Special Operations Executive, which was the British organization responsible for training and coordinating the operations of partisan groups in occupied countries during the Second World War]
Honours/Citations: War Medal 1939-45, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal
Formerly served as a Sergeant in the Canadian Army.
'Maitland' was an alias; his true family name was 'Mate'.
He enlisted on 29 August 1942 in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada. Sergeant Mate was discharged from the Canadian Forces on 18 Oct 1943 in order to enlist in the British Forces.
Tragedy struck when Mate was killed in the crash of 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft which had just taken off from St. Mawgan, Cornwall, England, en route to Bari, Italy; he, along with two Colonels, were on their way to the SOE headquarters there. When his body was recovered from the wreckage, all of his papers indicated his name was 'Stephen Maitland'.
His parents were eventually informed of his untimely death, but because he had been discharged from the Canadian army, who then had no knowledge of his passing, and thus no death certificate, they were unable to claim the insurance policy Mate had put in place before shipping out.
After an extensive rigamarole between Canadian and British authorities, Mate's death certificate finally found its way to his parents.
Son of Frank and Marie Mate of Fort William, Ontario, Canada; brother of Rosie and Mary.
Lieutenant Stephen Mate is commemorated on Page 380 of Canada's Second World War Book of Remembrance.
He is also commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
*(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: 'Steve Mate' (Civilian), 'Stephen Mate' (General List) and 'Stephen Maitland' [Alias]).
Steve Mate is referred to in the Honourable Roy McLaren's book, "Canadians Behind Enemy Lines, 1939-1945".
See the memorial page for Lieutenant Stephen MATE (the TRUE FAMILY NAME).
1944 June Quarter death registration (three entries)-
1. Name: Maitland, S. (Male)---Age: ?
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111)
AND
2. Name: Maitland, Stephen---Age: 3[21]
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111A)
AND
3. Name: Mate, Steve---Age: 32
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111A)
RAF 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft, with fourteen air crew members and passengers aboard, had taken off from RAF Station St. Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall, on a scheduled service flight (England to Algiers Maison Blance airport, via Gibraltar), when it exploded in mid-air and crashed into Watergate Bay near Newquay Bay. All 14 on board the aircraft perished in the crash. The Warwick was thought to be carrying several top-secret agents, military advisers, linguists and top-secret documents, as well as thousands of £100 bills and possibly boxes of gold (thought to be for use in helping to finance European underground groups).
The passengers included two French officers enroute to meet with General Charles DeGaulle in Cairo; two Polish couriers enroute to Warsaw; one senior staff officer enroute to Cairo; one Greek expert enroute to Greece; one Hungarian/Canadian enroute to Hungary on an S. O. E. mission; three S. O. E. officers; and one Russian-speaking MI6 officer enroute to Yugoslavia to meet with Tito partisans.
The 525 Squadron members who perished in this accident were:
RCAF Flying Officer Harold Calven AUSTEN,
RAFVR Flying Officer Albert George Tracey GARDINER,
RCAF Flying Officer Arthur Douglas GAVEL,
RAF Pilot Officer George William LAMB,
RAFVR Flying Officer Noel Spencer NICKLIN,
RAFVR Flight Sergeant Michael Kingston ROWE and
RAF Squadron Leader William Godfrey TILEY.
The passengers were:-
Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Watkins BIRTS,
RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour DAWSON-DAMER, Viscount CARLOW,
Lieutenant Colonel Stanley CASSON,
Lieutenant Stephen MAITLAND (using the alias, Lieutenant Stephen MATE)
(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: Steve Mate (Civilian), Stephen Mate (General List) and Stephen Maitland [Alias]),
Major Thomas Percival WARD and
From the Canadian Virtual War Memorial-
Military Service:-
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 84000
Service: Army
Unit: General List; SOE Officer [SOE=Special Operations Executive, which was the British organization responsible for training and coordinating the operations of partisan groups in occupied countries during the Second World War]
Honours/Citations: War Medal 1939-45, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal
Formerly served as a Sergeant in the Canadian Army.
'Maitland' was an alias; his true family name was 'Mate'.
He enlisted on 29 August 1942 in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada. Sergeant Mate was discharged from the Canadian Forces on 18 Oct 1943 in order to enlist in the British Forces.
Tragedy struck when Mate was killed in the crash of 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft which had just taken off from St. Mawgan, Cornwall, England, en route to Bari, Italy; he, along with two Colonels, were on their way to the SOE headquarters there. When his body was recovered from the wreckage, all of his papers indicated his name was 'Stephen Maitland'.
His parents were eventually informed of his untimely death, but because he had been discharged from the Canadian army, who then had no knowledge of his passing, and thus no death certificate, they were unable to claim the insurance policy Mate had put in place before shipping out.
After an extensive rigamarole between Canadian and British authorities, Mate's death certificate finally found its way to his parents.
Son of Frank and Marie Mate of Fort William, Ontario, Canada; brother of Rosie and Mary.
Lieutenant Stephen Mate is commemorated on Page 380 of Canada's Second World War Book of Remembrance.
He is also commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
*(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: 'Steve Mate' (Civilian), 'Stephen Mate' (General List) and 'Stephen Maitland' [Alias]).
Steve Mate is referred to in the Honourable Roy McLaren's book, "Canadians Behind Enemy Lines, 1939-1945".
See the memorial page for Lieutenant Stephen MATE (the TRUE FAMILY NAME).
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