Boyd, Owen Tudor Died

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Personal Information

Rank AVM
Forename(s) Owen Tudor
Surname Boyd
Gender M
Age 54
Decorations CB, OBE, MC, AFC, MiD
Date of Death 05-08-1944
Next of Kin Son of Alfred Black Pringle Boyd and Mary Tudor Boyd. Husband of Ina Marjorie Boyd (Nee Tudor), of Chelsea, London. Also Served In The 1914-18 War.
BOYD OT

Aircraft Information

Aircraft
Serial Number
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Mill Hill Cemetery
Grave Reference Sec. C. Grave 30.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 11
BOYD OT

Location

Row -
Panel 11
Column -
Line -

Directions From the Chadwick Centre, take the central path towards The Spire.

Phase 1
Panel Number 11

Enlistment Information

Service Royal Air Force
Group 93
Squadron 93 Group
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin United Kingdom

Miscellaneous Information

On 8 November 1940, it was announced that he had been appointed Deputy AOC in C, Middle East.  Twelve days later he was flying aboard Wellington T2873 of No 214 Squadron when, due to bad weather, the aircraft ran short of fuel being forced to land in Sicily instead of Malta where he was taken prisoner. In September 1943 he was one of six senior officers who tunnelled out of their prison, the Castle of Vincigliata near Florence, only two of the six successfully reaching Switzerland, Boyd himself being recaptured at Como.  However, together with General Sir Richard Connor and Lt General Sir Philip Neame, he later made another attempt, which was successful, eventually arriving in Britain in February 1944.  Appointed to command No 93 Group of Bomber Command, he was divorced by his wife in July 1944 but within days had died of a heart attack.
MC Citation, London Gazette, 19 August 1916: "Lt. Owen Tudor Boyd, Ind. Army, and B.F.C. For conspicuous gallantry when on a bombing raid in unfavourable weather. He descended to less than 1,000 feet and bombed a train, which he afterwards attacked with his machine gun, though heavily attacked by rifle and machine gun fire". Made a Companion of the Order of Bath (CB) on 8 June 1939.
Mentioned in Despatches June 1944

Last Operation Information

Start Date 05-08-1944
End Date 05-08-1944
Day/Night Raid Day
Reason for Aircraft Loss Died on active service within days of being divorced by his wife.
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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.