Bernyk, Victor Hector

Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Victor Hector
Surname Bernyk
Gender M
Age 21
Decorations
Date of Death 25-04-1944
Next of Kin Son of Wasyl (William) Bernyk and Mary Bernyk (née Popovetzki), of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
BERNYK VH

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster III
Serial Number DV244
Markings UM-L2

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Durnbach War Cemetery
Grave Reference Coll. grave 3. H. 21-25.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 8

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/86027
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 1
Squadron 626
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Main Entrance, Wickenby Airfield, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Memorial Stone, Metal Scupture, Info Board
Memorial Text This memorial commemorates the 1080 aircrew killed on operations with Nos (12B) and 626 squadrons whilst based at Royal Air Force Wickenby 1942-1945, the design and building of the memorial in 1981 was funded by subscription from members of the Wickenby R
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Miscellaneous Information

Victor was born on 14 May 1922 at Sellwood, Ontario. His father worked as a labourer and both parents were born in Bukovina, Romania. He was one of ten children having sisters Stella, Mary, Anne and Helen and brothers William, John and Dan, the latter shown as Private Dan Bernyk. Another sister Emma had died in 1941 and brother F/O Michael Bernyk J/38740, had died on 31 December 1944. 21 year old Michael was born on 24 August 1923 at Windsor and was a navigator with 166 Squadron. He had enlisted on 6 July 1942. Victor went to Gordon McGregor Public school in Windsor, 1928-1936. He then attended Windsor -Walkerville Vocational High, 1936-1940 (Technical), including two months Government training in machine shop in 1940. His sport interests were swimming, football, basketball and baseball and his hobby was building model aeroplanes. Victor worked as a machinist at Windsor Truing Tool, in Windsor ( 1940-1941) before enlisting on 2 December 1941.
After enlistment and early training he embarked from New York on 9 March 1943, arriving in the U.K. at 3PRC on 18 March. He then went to 15(P) AFU on 17 May 1943, 81 OTU 20 July 1943, 1662 CU 17 October 1943 and 626 Squadron on 10 February 1944. Sadly Victor was to lose his life on 25 April 1944

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The National Archives

Fellow Servicemen

Last Operation Information

Start Date 24-04-1944
End Date 25-04-1944
Takeoff Station Wickenby
Day/Night Raid Night (6% moon)
Operation Karlsruhe
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed at Plittersdorf, 6km NW of Rastatt.
 
 
 
 

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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.