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John William Callinan (R133873) joined the RCAF on October 1, 1941. He was trained at Oshawa, Trenton and Camp Borden. He received his Wings on October 8th 1942 at Camp Borden and he departed Halifax at the end of October 1942 for operational training in England.
At the time of his death he was completing his operational training at OTU52 at Aston Down in Gloucestershire with a RAF Operational Training Unit.
He was killed on Sunday March 7, 1943 at 12:15 PM while flying Spitfire IIA P8574 . He was detailed to carry out an air to ground exercise followed by a dummy rhubarb on the return journey. While doing so he hit the high tension cables near Slimbridge just off the Bristol Road, he was killed instantly.
His place of burial is the Cirencester Cemetery Plot 5.
John Callinan lived at 222 Heath Street East in Toronto, Ontario with his parents John and Emma, and his sisters Jeannette, Mary, and Ann.
He was a graduate of De La Salle and at the time of his enlistment he was studying at the Michigan College of Mining & Technology.
He enjoyed hockey, football, skiing and spending the summers at Ballyragit Cottage at the family's cottage on an island in Stoney Lake now named Callinan Island in his honour.
During the summer of 1942 he would often be seen flying a Tiger Moth over Stoney Lake where he would dip his wing over Bohacket Island where his fiance Janet Utz of Rochester, NY visited.
This was updated by , John Valentine son of Mary (nee Callinan) Valentine who was the pilots sister.
Some this record has come from the database of Mr. Halliday, a Canadian military historian.
More information can be found about this pilot at the Canadian Virtual Memorial.
