Derry, Richard Ironmonger Died

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Richard Ironmonger
Surname Derry
Gender M
Age 22
Date of Death 02-06-1942
Next of Kin Son of Fredrick Derry and Florence H Derry (née Willcock) of Montreal, Québec, Canada.
DERRY RI

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington IC
Serial Number HX375
Markings -X

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Belgium
Burial/Memorial Place Schoonselhof Cemetery
Grave Reference Joint grave II. H. 19-20.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 28
DERRY RI

Location

Row -
Panel 28
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 1
Panel Number 28

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/56151
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 92
Squadron 26 OTU
Trade WOp/AG
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

Richard was born on 2 March 1920 at Calgary, Alberta. Both parents were born in England. His father had worked as a chief clerk before his death in 1941. He had brothers William and Samuel and a sister Margaret. Brother William was a Sub Ltn. In the R.C.N.V.R. The schools he attended were St. Lambert High, 1928-1935, West Hill High, 1935-1940 and Montreal Technical School 1936 1937. The sports he joined in were swimming and rugby, which he enjoyed most, as well as skiing and water polo. He had been in the Sea Scouts. Richard worked at Canadian Car and Foundry, as a draftsman 1937-1938. He then worked as a Bell-hop at Gray Rocks Inn from 1939 onwards.
After enlisting on 22 June 1940 and having finished his training, Richard embarked from Canada on 18 June 1941 for the U.K. where he arrived on 29 June 1941 at 3 PRC. He was then at 1 S.S. 28 July 1941 and 22 OTU 28 October 1941. Richard was to lose his life the following year on 2 June 1942 from 26 OTU.

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.

Name Outcome
Edmonds K (Sgt) Died
Edye B H (Sgt) Died
Horner G (Sgt) Died
Utman K B (F/S) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 01-06-1942
End Date 02-06-1942
Takeoff Station Graveley
Day/Night Raid Night (89% moon)
Operation Essen
Reason for Aircraft Loss Took off at 2259. Crashed 0130 near Antwerpen

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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.