Morgan Avenue and Crescent
Municipality/Province: London, ON
Memorial number: 35042-134
Type: Street
Address: Morgan Avenue
Location: Off of Singleton Avenue
GPS coordinates: Lat: 42.9377025 Long: -81.2715911
Submitted by: Richard Turcotte
(Note: Though a poppy does not appear on the street signs, these streets are part of the City of London's "Streets of Honour" program and were named for Pilot Officer Morgan)
Morgan Avenue and Morgan Crescent are named in memory of Pilot Officer Franklin Benedict Morgan.
Franklin Benedict Morgan grew up on Princess Avenue in London ON and took flying lessons at the London Flying Club while studying at Sir Adam Beck Collegiate. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in June 1940 and following initial training, went on to train at No. 5 Service Flying Training School in Brantford ON, graduating from Course 15 in March 1941. Documents indicate that he went on to fly bombing missions in Europe and was shot down on 20 October 1941 after an operation over Bremen, Gemany. In this instance, P/O Morgan was forced to make an emergency landing on the choppy North Sea and the entire crew managed to cram into a single dinghy. They spent 12 hours floating around until a fighter spotted them and circled until they could be rescued.
He was then transfered to No. 38 Squadron, RAF, operating out of Cairo, Egypt. On the night of 13 July 1942, after successfully completing a bombing mission over Tobruk, Libya, his bomber was attacked by enemy planes. His fuel tanks were hit, and coupled with adverse weather, the plane ran out of fuel just before reaching their base. The crew was ordered to bail out while Morgan attempted an emergency landing. The plane crashed and the injured Morgan was evacuated to a military hospital but later died of his wounds. Pilot Officer Franklin Benedict Morgan is buried at the Heliopolis War Cemetery, near Cairo.
Inscription found on memorial
Morgan Ave
Morgan Cres
Street view
Note
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