F/O – Fighter pilot – 65 squadron – June 1941-July 1946 (Spitfires, Mustangs) – 1 Me-109 destroyed

Also served at no1 Bomer Command looking after West-Indies members of 17 bomber stations after he left 65 sq.

Born Dec 3/1920, Constant rd Kingston, Jamaica – attended Jamaica and Munro colleges. Now I live in Puerto Rico

[Source: Hugh Robison, 2011]

(known as Hugh)     Service no. on enlistment (at Euston, England) 1394806.  Service no. on Commission 198310. 

[NB – I think the entry reads FLGHTER Pilot.  Change “L” to “I”.]

J/88359 – P/O – Oscar Leonard Harrington Harding –  air bomber 433 Squadron – KIA 25/02/1944

RCAF Casualty List 1033 shows P/O Harding as hailing from Georgetown, British Guiana

Chorley’s 1944 BCL shows him as aircrew on a 433 Sqn Halifax lost on Schweinfurt 24/25 February, 1944

[Source: CWGC, RCAF Casuality List 1033, Chorleys’s; courtesy Alieneyes]

R/95750 – Desmond Michael De Silva – W/O – 218 Squadron – KIA 24/08/1943

[Sources: CWGC and RCAF Casualty List 0918 and Chorley’s; courtesy Alieneyes]

W/O De Silva DFM shows up with parents in Flushing, NY. RCAF Casualty List 0918, however, shows W/O Desmond Michael De Silva DFM as being from Georgetown, British Guiana.

CWGC says 218 Squadron but Chorleys has him lost as a rear gunner on a Stirling from No. 623 Squadron. Both list him as an American from Flushing Meadows, NY City.

RCAF Casualty List 0918 and Chorley’s

R/133782 – W/O Robert Gerald Huxtable – Wireless Operator/Air Gunner – KIA  03/06/1944

[Source: CWGC]

Dave Champion (aug. 2010): Robert Huxtable, listed as being from Nassau, Bahamas, was actually born and bred in Toronto, Ontario. I pulled his RCAF service file a couple of days ago.

The Bahamas connection comes from the fact his ferrying unit was based there. He was killed, along with his crew, when his Marauder crashed just after takeoff in Egypt, now Sudan.

He was married and his wife was also from Toronto.

R154427 – F/S – 49 Squadron – Lancaster JB545 (EA-O)- KIA 16 December 1943

Buried in the General Cemetery in Wolvega (Weststellingwerf) in the Netherlands.

See the Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM) for more pictures of gravestone and letter.

[Courtesy AD]

Details about the crash of Lancaster JB545 on TracesOfWar with pictures of a commemorative monument in Sonnega (NL): “On 16 December 1943 Lancaster JB545 was on a mission to Berlin with 496 other bombers. The Lancaster was attacked by German fighters and crashed near the De Linde stream. All seven crew were killed. They were buried in the General Cemetery in Wolvega.”

[Source: Traces of War]

X

1425107 – 158689 – Pilot Officer – Pilot – Gordon Lennox Ratcliffe – RAFVR – Age 23 – KIA
1580024 – Sergeant – Navigator – Edward Holloway – RAFVR – Age 25 – KIA
1313451 – Sergeant – W.Operator / Air Gunner – William Thomas Rees – RAFVR – Age 23 – KIA
1214303 – Sergeant – Flight Engineer – Albert Edgar “Arthur” Marsland – RAFVR – KIA
1452920 – Sergeant – Bomb Aimer – Wilfred Robert Day – RAFVR – Age 20 – KIA
R/154427 – Flight Sergeant – Air Gunner – Ricardo “Richard” Losa – RCAF – Age 27 – KIA
423760 – Flight Sergeant – Air Gunner – Bede James Veitch King – RAAF – Age 19 – KIA

[Source: SGLO, www.teunispats.nl]

[Sources: RCAF Casuality list 792, CWGC, courtesy Alieneyes]

R108843 – F/S – 405 Squadron – KOAS (Killed on active service: possible training accident)
Yorkshire aircraft

[Sources: RCAF Casuality list 442, CWGC, courtesy Alieneyes]

J3754 – P/O – MBK – RCAF – POW #1633, Stalag Luft III

[Sources: RCAF Casuality list 0058, Ross’ POW list, courtesy Alieneyes]

On the night of 15/16 July 1941, after a successful attack on Duisburg, the Wellington aircraft was caught in a belt of searchlights, was struck by flak then attacked by an enemy fighter. Bullets and cannon shell struck the aircraft and exploded in the cabin and blasted open the mid-under turret hatch…..The observer, P/O Robert Cyril Adair Hunter, when proceeding aft to render assistance to the rear gunner, fell through the damaged under-turret hatch.

Astonishingly P/O Hunter survived and was captured on landing.  He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner before being repatriated 11th May 1945.

[Source: website 75 NZ Squadron, courtesy AD]

Sergeant – RCAF – R135114

[Source: CMHA]

W/O – 76 squardron – Halifax EB253 MP-C – KIA 23 sept. 1943

[Sources: Chorley, CWGC; courtesy Alieneyes]

[Trinidad Guardian 18 January 1944 – Courtesy Jerome Lee, CMHA]

More information on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial:  https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/1802667

ARCHER, PHILLIP LESLIE IRVING Initials: P L I Nationality:United Kingdom Rank: Squadron Leader Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Air Force Age: 27 Date of Death: 17/06/1943 Service No: J/3508 Awards: D F C Additional information: Son of Frederick Leslie and Millicent Beryl Archer, of Hastings St. Michael, Barbados.

R Sc. 17 June 1943 421 RCAF Squadron.Spitfire IX LZ996 Rodeo pm. Shot down by JG26 Fw190 near St.Omer.FCL Vo.2 Franks.
[Extract courtesy CXX ww2chat.com. Source spitfires.ukf.net:] 6 enemy aircraft credited

[Source: Air Force Association of Canada:]- ARCHER, F/L Phillip Leslie Irving (J3508) – Distinguished Flying Cross – No.416 Squadron – Award effective 24 August 1942 as per London Gazette dated 11 September 1942 and AFRO 1535/42 dated 25 September 1942.

Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, 1917.
Joined RCAF in Montreal, 6 June 1940.
Trained at No.1 ITS , No.6 EFTS, and No.1 SFTS.
Posted overseas immediately;
to No.57 OTU, 17 February 1941;
to No.92 Squadron, 5 May 1941 where he destroyed three enemy aircraft and damaged one.
To No.412 Squadron, 11 November 1941;
to No.416 Squadron (“A” Flight Commander), 10 March 1942.
To Station Kenley, 1 December 1942.  Presented with award 9 February 1943.  Designated CO,
No.402 Squadron, 13 June 1943 and attached to No.421 Squadron for a few days to get back to operational standards.  On 17 June 1943 he took command of No.421 Squadron on posting of CO;
killed in action 17 June 1943.

Aerial victories as follows:
23 June 1941, one Bf.109F destroyed southeast of Boulogne;
7 July 1941, one Bf.109F destroyed and one damaged near Lille;
9 July 1941, one Bf.109F destroyed near Bethune;
18 July 1942,  one Do.217 destroyed east of Orfordness;
17 June 1943, one FW.190 destroyed (action in which he was killed).

Photo PL-7689 (with P/O Buchan); PL-7690 (in front of Spitfire); PL-11906 (portrait); PL-15375 (F/L E.H. McCaffrey, S/L P.L.I. Archer, F/L D.J. Williams after investiture).

This officer has completed sorties over enemy territory and has destroyed at least four enemy aircraft.  On one occasion, although wounded in the leg, Flight Lieutenant Archer flew his badly damaged aircraft back to the base where he executed a skilful landing.  He is a most efficient leader.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 8. Row A. Grave 1. Cemetery: LONGUENESSE (ST. OMER) SOUVENIR CEMETERY,FRANCE
[Source: Air Force Association of Canada & cwgc; courtesy Jerome Lee]

CAMACHO, F/L Vivian Evelyn (J4899) – Distinguished Flying Cross – No.59 Squadron –

Award effective 1 September 1944 as per London Gazette dated 15 September 1944 and AFRO 2373/44 dated 3 November 1944.
Born 1919 in British West Indies (Antigua); served in Officer Training Corps, England, 1932-1936.  Home in Radcliffe, Manitoba; enlisted in Montreal 24 August 1940.  Trained at No.1 ITS (graduated 3 November 1940), No.3 EFTS (graduated 23 December 1940) and No.5 SFTS (graduated 17 March 1941).
Invested with award by King George 29 June 1945. This officer completed a tour of operational duty on Hudson aircraft.  He has since taken part in many anti-submarine patrols.  Early this year he was captain of an aircraft which delivered a telling attack on an enemy U-boat.  This attack was pressed home in the face of extremely heavy anti-aircraft fire and in very bad weather.  Since the above action Flight Lieutenant Camacho has continued to display great keenness and a fine fighting spirit.

NOTE: Public Records Office Air 2/9276 has original recommendation dated 17 July 1944 when he had flown 23 Very Long Range sorties (326 operational hours); he was reported as having flown 500 hours on his first tour ! This officer joined No.59 Squadron on the 12th November 1943, and has since completed 23 sorties. This is his second operational tour wit Coastal Command, having already competed a tour on Hudson aircraft prior to joining this unit. On the 27th May 1944, Flight Lieutenant Camacho was captain of aircraft “S” (No.59 Squadron) when a U-boat was sighted in an estimated position of 62∞ 37′ North, 00∞ 57′ East.  The weather conditions at the time were extremely bad and the captain was forced to descend below 300 feet before breaking cloud and making his sighting, having previously obtained a radar contact. The captain, however, pressed home a very determined attack at low altitude in the face of extremely heavy flak. During the run in, the starboard engine was damaged by a cannon shell to such an extent that the aircraft returned to base on the remaining three engines.  The attack was, however, well executed, and an analysis given by higher authority was “probably sunk”. Since the above action, Flight Lieutenant Camacho has continued to display great keenness and aggressiveness in carrying out his duties concerning U-boat warfare, and has been a fine example to junior and less experienced members of the squadron.
[Source: Air Force Association of Canada; courtesy Jerome Lee]