Casselman, John Halifax Died

Back

Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) John Halifax
Surname Casselman
Gender M
Age 24
Date of Death 03-02-1944
Next of Kin Son of Fredrick Casselman and Alice Casselman (née Ablett), of Brockville, Ontario, Canada. Husband of Mamie Ruth Casselman (néeThompson), whom he married at Prince Edward Island on 30 August 1941.
CASSELMAN JH

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington IC
Serial Number Z1114
Markings -T

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Oxford (Botley) Cemetery
Grave Reference Plot I/2. Grave 153.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 18
CASSELMAN JH

Location

Row -
Panel 18
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 1
Panel Number 18

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/70340
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 93
Squadron 28 OTU
Trade Navigator
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

John was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 13 December 1919. His father was born at Brockville, Ontario and worked as a Moulder and his mother was born in London, England. He attended Victoria school in Brockville, Ontario, 1925-1933 followed by Brockville Collegiate 1933-1939. His hobby was making model aircraft and the sports he took part in were baseball, hockey , basketball and swimming. He worked for James McLainin at Brockville Country Club as a Steward during 1939 and then enlisted on 28 August 1940.
After initial training John was posted to the U.K. and embarked from Halifax on 26 August 1943, arriving at 3PRC on 2 September. He then went on to 5 AOS 19 October 1943 followed by 28 OTU on 21 November 1943. Sadly John then lost his life in a flying accident at Wymeswold, Leicestershire, England on 3 February 1944. He is buried in the RAF Regional Cemetery.

Fellow Servicemen

Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.

Name Outcome
Cowie E E (Sgt) Died
Stephens J M (Sgt) Died
Stone W R (Sgt) Died
Webb J A (Sgt) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 03-02-1944
End Date 03-02-1944
Takeoff Station Castle Donington
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Training
Reason for Aircraft Loss On a cross-country exercise. On return to base the port engine began to fail and at 1742 the bomber overshot the runway and finished up, totally wrecked, in a field on the northern side of the airfield.
Start new losses database search Back
 
 
 
 

Please Wait

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.