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Downing, James

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) James
Surname Downing
Gender M
Age 23
Date of Death 29-07-1944
Next of Kin Son of James Downing and Jennie Downing (née Henderson), of Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. Husband of Catherine Mary Downing (née Johnson), whom he married at East Hoathly, Sussex England on 17 September 1943.
DOWNING J

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number LM107
Markings PH-Z

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country France
Burial/Memorial Place Choloy War Cemetery
Grave Reference Coll. grave 3. F. 2-6.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 30

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/85797
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 1
Squadron 12
Squadron Motto Leads the field
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Wickenby Airfield, Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Stone Memorial with Sculpture of Icarus & Information Board
Memorial Text Royal Air Force Wickenby No1 Group Bomber Command 1942-1945 In memory of one thousand and eighty men of 12 & 626 Squadrons who gave their lives on operations from this airfieldin the offensive against Germany and the liberation of occupied Europe Per ardu
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Miscellaneous Information

James was born at Owen Sound, Ontario on 7 October 1920. His father James was a war veteran and retired Transport Agent who was born at Balaclava, Ontario and his mother was born in Armagh, Ireland. Sadly she died in 1932. He had brothers Garfield, Wilson and Jack also two sisters, Marguerite and Helen. He attended the Strathcona School at Owen Sound between 1926-1935 (general) and then Owen Sound Collegiate Vocational Institute 1935-1937 ( Commercial). He then went to the Assumption College in Windsor, Ontario, 1937-1938 (Accounting). His sport interests were basketball, tennis and badminton and his hobby was oil painting. James had numerous jobs and periods of unemployment and between 1937 and 1941 he had six temporary jobs. He started off in 1937 working as a junior clerk for C. P. Express and was then unemployed until 1939. He then worked on and off for two shoe stores until 1940, at Scarrow shoe stores and Agnew Shoes, again as a clerk. He went to Windsor Laundry as a bookkeeper, was then unemployed until becoming a Timekeeper at an Auto specialists, and finally working as a Bookkeeper at Bryant Pattern of Windsor, Ontario.
James enlisted on 13 January 1942 and after training embarked from Halifax for the U.K. on 27 May 1943. He arrived at 3PRC on 5 June 1943 then went to 20 (P) AFU on 6 July 1943, 18 OTU 12 October 1943, 11 Base 22 February 1944 and 12 Squadron 3 May 1944. Sadly James was to lose his life on 29 July 1944

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/168/14
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/168/13

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.

Alton J P (F/S)
Clitheroe T C (Sgt)
Day S V (Sgt)
Figg E D (F/O)
Porter W C (Sgt)
Saunders I W (F/L)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 28-07-1944
End Date 29-07-1944
Takeoff Station Wickenby
Day/Night Raid Night (56% moon)
Operation Stuttgart
Reason for Loss Cause of loss not established.

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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.