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Cranna, William Thomas

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) William Thomas
Surname Cranna
Gender M
Age 26
Date of Death 10-09-1942
Next of Kin Son of William Forbes Cranna and Mary Cranna (née Sutherland), of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.
CRANNA WT

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington IC
Serial Number R1616
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Netherlands
Burial/Memorial Place Flushing (Vlissingen) Northern Cemetery
Grave Reference Row C. Grave 24.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 24

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/93683
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 91
Squadron 22 OTU
Trade Air Bomber
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location St. Peter's Church, Wellesbourne Mountford, Warwickshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text A dedication to the men and women who were killed while serving with 22 OTU during World War 2
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Miscellaneous Information

William was born at Lacombe, Alberta on 15 April 1916. His father worked as a farmer and both parents were born in Scotland. The schools he attended were Lacombe Public, 1925-1933, Lacombe High 1933-1937 (Jnr.Matric) and Lacombe (Commercial High) 1937-1938. His sport interests were tennis, hunting and fishing and his hobby was amateur photography. William worked in Landscape Design for three years with J. McDonald of Lacombe’s Nursery, 1938-1940, and then became a Police Constable in the town of Lacombe.
He enlisted on 9 April 1941 and after initial training embarked from Canada on 30 April 1942. Arriving in the U.K. at 3PRC on 13 May 1942, he went on to 10 (0) AFU on 7 June 1942 and 22 OTU on 7 July 1942. It was from there on 10 September 1942 that William was sadly to lose his life.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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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.

Bell C H L (Sgt)
Hughes R W (F/S)
McBratney W T B (P/O)
Williams J D (F/S)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 10-09-1942
End Date 11-09-1942
Takeoff Station Stratford upon Avon
Day/Night Raid Night (0% moon)
Operation Dusseldorf
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night fighter and crashed near Biervliet (Zeeland) Holland around 23:45. German pilot thought to be Oblt. Albert Schultz (I/NJG2).

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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.