Hi at the CAHS,
As you may know the Ventura Memorial Flight Associations project Canada’s Air War – A Chronology has been put on the Internet at last.
This is the result of nearly 25 years of work correlating information on the events of the Second World War, the part the Canada played, and notably what Canadian Airmen did during the war, and what it cost us in terms of lives lost and men wounded.
While the focus of the project was to stimulate students in High School and University level to know and further research the history of this country during this period, a secondary purpose was to provide in one place accurate information on events, dates, people and the aircraft involved with Canadians in the RCAF and other armed forces.
Thus for researchers the site can be a go-to place to quickly find out the basic information on an aircraft event or loss, with information on available supporting material in many cases.
If you could take the time to check out the material now online and perhaps point it out to the Membership.
There is another reason for this request. If there are any events which are unclear they have been noted in the text. I am still engaged in updating the data. And I am particularly interested in correcting any errors made and clarifying some of the entries.
Please explore the site, and see if there is any information you or the CAHS membership can add or correct. Click here to access the site.
As mentioned the information is always being reviewed. The next page now being prepared will be a listing of Canadians Lost by Unit in the Commonwealth Air Forces. This has already turned up several errors in the dates of those in the Fatalities by Date file which are being corrected.
After that is complete and posted we plan to create a long-overdue Errata for the book They Shall Grow Not Old.
Finally in this work we created a cross-reference for W.R. Chorley’s Bomber Command Losses which provides a quick page and volume reference to his work by aircraft serial number, and this is available to any interested CAHS member at no charge.
Below is a sample page. The references are to Bomber Command Losses volumes for 1939-1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, Operational Training Units and Heavy Conversion Units as well as Gunby & Temples Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean Vol. 1, 1939-1942. This can give a researcher the volume and page reference for a bomber loss in seconds:
R1299 Wellington BCL' OTU 52
R1320 Wellington BCL' OTU 43
R1321 Wellington BCL' HCU 224
R1322 Wellington BCL'41 53
R1323 Wellington BCL'41 63
R1324 Wellington BCL'43 181; BCL' OTU 227
R1325 Wellington BCL' OTU 250
R1326 Wellington BCL'41 30
R1328 Wellington BCL'41 145
R1329 Wellington BCL' OTU 102
R1330 Wellington BCL'41 57
R1331 Wellington BCL'41 43
R1332 Wellington BCL'41 152
R1333 Wellington BCL'39-40 140
R1334 Wellington BCL' OTU 60
R1335 Wellington BCL'41 34
R1336 Wellington BCL' OTU 127
R1337 Wellington BCL' OTU 242
R1339 Wellington BCL'41 69
R1340 Wellington BCL' OTU 94
R1341 Wellington BCL'41 114
R1342 Wellington BCL' OTU 104
R1343 Wellington BCL'41 80
R1344 Wellington BCL' OTU 185
R1345 Wellington BCL' OTU 146
R1346 Wellington BCL'42 209; BCL' OTU 153
R1348 Wellington BCL'41 65
R1349 Wellington BCL'42 132; BCL' OTU 128
R1365 Wellington BCL'41 68
R1366 Wellington BCL' OTU 60
R1367 Wellington BCL' OTU 41
R1368 Wellington BCL'41 45
R1369 Wellington BCL'41 102
R1371 Wellington BCL'41 95
R1372 Wellington BCL'41 74
R1373 Wellington BCL'41 78
R1374 Wellington BCL'41 52
R1375 Wellington BCL' OTU 125
R1377 Wellington BCL' OTU 116
R1378 Wellington BCL'41 32
R1379 Wellington BCL'41 56
R1380 Wellington BCL'41 38
R1381 Wellington BCLME'39-42 44
Doing a quick search it appears that 17 of the 43 Wellington aircraft referenced above had Canadian airmen involved in their losses. For example, R1346 was lost September 10-11, 1942 with the following information:
10-11 Dusseldorf attacked by 479 bombers, including OTU aircraft, with Target Finding support. This operation saw the first use a purposely designed Target Indicator, a 2,800 lb. device (modified from a 4,000 lb. Blockbuster casing) that burned with a distinct pink colour (hence it's name, "Pink Pansy"). Very heavy damage caused for the loss of 33 bombers (BC War Diaries).
10-11 #16 OTU Wellington Ic R1346 JS-F lost an engine off the coast of Holland on an operation to Germany and ditched short of the English coast, Sgt B.A. Rodgers killed, Sgt A.E. Sedin RAF missing, Sgt K.J. Johnston RAF, Sgt I.F. Leng RAF and Sgt A. Boswell RAF rescued.
Sgt Rodgers, highlighted in red, was a member of RCAF.
Any CAHS member who would like a copy of the Bomber Command Losses cross reference document can contact me (Paul Squires) at the CAPA-ACCA e-mail address and I will send this to them.
As an aside if any member has a copy of Hagedorn’s Latin American Air Wars by Hitoki Press, we have a copy of the text for the book that Hitoki was to provide to purchasers on the internet at no charge, an experimental idea that faltered when Hitoki went out of business. For any serious historian of Military Aviation in the Americas this is a must have text, and I obtained my electronic copy on the understanding that I would pass it on to interested researchers. Again, please contact me at the CAPA-ACCA e-mail paul@capa-acca.com.
All the Best,
Paul Squires
Ventura Memorial Flight Association
Canadian Aircraft Historical Society
Membership
