Davis, Hershel Homer Died

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Hershel Homer
Surname Davis
Gender M
Date of Death 20-04-1942
Next of Kin Son of Homer Harding Davis and Maud Adeline Davis (née Blundell), of Oregon, USA.
DAVIS HH

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Hampden I
Serial Number AD869
Markings PT-L

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Waddington (St. Michael) Churchyard

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 27
DAVIS HH

Location

Row -
Panel 27
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 1
Panel Number 27

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/81403
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 5
Squadron 420 (Snowy Owl)
Squadron Motto Pugnamus finitum (We fight to a finish)
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin United States of America

Other Memorials

Location Outside former St. Georges Hotel, Teesside Airport, County Durham
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablet on Memorial Stone
Memorial Text In memory of those who served at RAF Croft, 1941-1945 including 420 Sqn RCAF
Location Village Green, Tholthorpe, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stone Memorial, inscribed Metal Plaque and Maple Tree
Memorial Text A memorial, in English & French, to those Canadians who served at RAF Tholthorpe during WW2, including 420 (RCAF) Sqn
Location Former Control Tower, Tholthorpe Airfield, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text A memorial to those Canadians who served at RAF Tholthorpe during WW2, including 420 Sqn
Location Lincoln County Hospital Chapel, Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text In memory of Officers, NCO's & Other Ranks of 5 (Bomber) Group RAF who gave their lives Sept 1939 - May 1945

Miscellaneous Information

Hershel (usually referred to as Homer) was born on 12 February 1919 at Crook, Prineville, Oregon, USA. His father, who was deceased by the time of Hershel's enlistment, was born in Roseburg, Oregon and was a farmer and ranger and his mother was also born in Oregon. Both were American citizens. He also had a brother Edward Blundell Davis. The schools he attended were Amity Grade School, Amity, Oregon. 1923-1931, followed by Amity Union High 1931-1935. He spent one semester at Linfield College at McMinnville, Oregon. Hershel worked as a labourer at the USSR Mining Company at Nome, Alaska. 1937-1938, at American Creek Dredge, also in Nome, 1937-1938. He then worked at Superior Radio Service, Pittsburg, California as a Solicitor in 1940 until enlisting. The sports he took part in were football, baseball, swimming, tennis and boxing. He had been married (no details on his enlistment papers) but divorced in 1940.
After enlisting on 17 December 1940 and basic training, Hershel embarked from Canada for the U.K. on 18 September 1941. He was then at 3 PRC on 28 September 1941, 14 OTU 14 October 1941 arriving at 420 Squadron on 5 April 1942. Sadly Hershel lost his life two weeks later on 20 April whilst undergoing a training flight.
He enlisted whilst the United States was still neutral. He did not swear and oath to the King.

Casualty Pack Number Find Out More

AIR 81/13547 (P367955/42)

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1825/8
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1825/8

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
Laronde G G J (F/S) Died
Player G A (Sgt) Died
Pritchard J C (F/S) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 19-04-1942
End Date 20-04-1942
Takeoff Station Waddington
Day/Night Raid Night (17% moon)
Operation Night cross-country exercise
Reason for Aircraft Loss Crashed shortly after leaving Waddington, 3 miles NW of Horncastle, Lincs. Burst into flames upon impact.
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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.