[5] He returned to Exeter for the 1938 season, winning selection in the SAAFL's State team for the Australian Amateur Football Carnival in Launceston.
[22] However, because he was unable to get leave from the RAAF,[23] he had to withdraw from the team at the last minute – and he died on that very morning (when he would have, otherwise, already been on his way to the Arden Street Oval).
At the coroner's inquest, conducted by Mr Tingate, P.M. on 19 August 1941, evidence was given that the conditions on the day were far from satisfactory – very gusty and, as a consequence, there were many air pockets – and that Brock was a passenger in one of three aircraft flying in a V formation.
[25] The trainee pilot of the other aircraft, Colin Fallon (407785),[26] lost control of his craft immediately after the planes collided.
[28] However, despite being instructed to bail out by the pilot McGuire (who successfully escaped the aircraft), his passenger Brock did not jump.