Page 8 - Jan2017

Appeal Launched to Find Family of The museum has also established that the pilot’s
Spitfire Pilot After Wreck Discovered youngest sister, Molly, had two grandchildren called
Julie Hunter, born 1958, and Paul R.F. Hunter, born
1960 and then living in Barkston Ash.

Researchers are hoping that Coates’ relatives will
reach out to them, and have offered to provide the
family with recovered parts from the aircraft as a
gift. (via Yorkshire Post)

HK Models Releases New Renderings of

Upcoming 1/32 Avro Lancaster Model Kit
(via Hong Kong Models)
The recent discovery of a Spitfire Mk IX along the Adige
Hong Kong Models has released new renderings of
River near Cavarzere, Italy has prompted an appeal to
their highly anticipated new tool 1/32 Avro
locate family members of the pilot, whose body was
Lancaster model kit.
recovered during the excavation.
On March 5, 1945, 24-year-old Warrant Officer John
Henry Coates of York departed from Rimini in Spitfire
PT410 along with five other 111 Squadron Spitfires to
attack barges located near Venice. During the mission the
aircraft encountered a barrage of anti-aircraft fire and
Coates’ machine was hit, causing it to crash to the ground
and explode.

Coates was listed as missing in action, but following a
two-year investigation archeologists from Romagna Air
Finders and Air Crash Po located the crash site using
The kit will reportedly represent the Mk 1 and
charts and flight records from the time. With officials include markings for R5868 “S-Sugar” of 467
from the British Embassy in Rome on hand, the team
Squadron RAAF, which became the first bomber to
excavated the area and recovered parts of the machine’s
complete 100 missions.
engine, wings and fuselage as well as cockpit components Most of the major components for the kit are said
and ammunition. They also discovered human remains
to be in the tooling stage at the moment and it is
belonging to the pilot.
hoped that the first test build photos will be ready
With Coates now able to receive a proper burial, an effort by January. Release is currently expected for
has been launched to trace his family and locate relatives. February or March.
His parents were Eliza and John Coates, whom, the
Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, York, believes, may
have had six other children and connections with the
Rowntree chocolate factory in the city. John Coates is
thought to have been a confectionary maker who died in
1954. George Coates, a brother of the pilot, is believed to
have two grandsons – Matthew James Coates, born in
1974, and Robert John Coates, born in 1972, both in
Howden.