WWII uncovered: Honouring the Heroes We Lost: WWII Ace Squadron Leader Keith Granville Taylor-Cannon of the Royal New Zealand Air Force

Honouring the Heroes We Lost: WWII Ace Squadron Leader Keith Granville Taylor-Cannon of the Royal New Zealand Air Force

Today we honour WWII Ace and Squadron Leader Keith Granville Taylor-Cannon of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Keith joined the RNZAF on 13th April 1941, and was posted to the United Kingdom on completion of training.

After further training on Hawker Hurricanes with No. 56 Operational Training Unit he was posted on the 24 March 1942 to No. 486 (New Zealand) Squadron as a Sergeant. Known as "Hyphen" Taylor-Cannon had his first aerial victory on 17 December 1942 against a Messerschmitt Bf 109.

On 17 January 1943 Taylor-Cannon once again shot down another Bf 109 and was subsequently promoted to Pilot Officer.

"By the end of his first operational tour he had completed 256 operational flights with No. 486 Squadron, Taylor-Cannon was awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross on the 22 March 1944 for which he received the bar to his DFC in March 1945."

On 13 April 1945 Squadron Leader Keith Granville Taylor-Cannon led a flight of the No. 486 Squadron Tempests in an attack on a German transport column along the east bank of the Elbe, at Dömitz. His aircraft took a direct hit and Taylor-Cannon bailed out.

Despite conflicting stories - his fate was never resolved. By the end of his service Squadron Leader Taylor-Cannon was credited with the destruction of five German aircraft including a V-1. He was 23 years old.

Squadron Leader Keith Taylor-Cannon is memorialized at Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England. Lest We Forget.

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