Elcoate, William Robert

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Personal Information

Rank F/L
Forename(s) William Robert
Surname Elcoate
Gender M
Age 32
Decorations
Date of Death 05-01-1945
Next of Kin Son of Robert Elcoate and Ellen Louisa Elcoate (née Harrison), of High River, Alberta, Canada. Husband of Elsie Kathrine Elcoate (née Lowan), whom he married at High Rivers on 24 August 1935. Father of Robert William Elcoate (born 3 October 1936).
ELCOATE WR

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number NG331
Markings BQ-M

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Hanover War Cemetery
Grave Reference 2. F. 11.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 32

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/24653
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 1
Squadron 550
Trade Air Bomber
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

William was born on 8 November 1912 at Whitemouth, Manitoba. His father was born at Stockton on Tees, England and was a retired C.P.R.Section foreman and his mother was born in Birmingham, England. He has two sisters, a further three had sadly died: Pearl in 1904, Clara 1932 and Hazel in 1945. Sister Clara worked in Calgary in the nursing profession but sadly contracted typhoid fever and died at the age of 25. The schools William attended were High River, Public 1918-1926 and High River, High, 1926 -1928 (all subjects grades 9 and 10). His sport interests were shooting and fishing and his hobby was carpentry. Between 1927-1941 William worked as a grocery clerk for W.O. Zimmerman of High River and then for Jenkins Groceterias, Calgary 1941-1942, also as a grocery clerk.
He enlisted on 1 April 1942 and after training embarked for the U.K. on 14 February 1944. After arriving at 3PRC on 25 February 1944 he went on to 8(0) AFU on 28 March 1944, 28 OTU 9 May 1944 and 550 Squadron on 27 September 1944. On 5 January 1945, William sadly lost his life.
His married sister Hazel (Keys) who died in 1945, left behind two children: a three year old daughter Barbara and a baby son Edward, just nine days old.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2037/30
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2037/29

Fellow Servicemen

Adams J C (F/O)
Papple F (F/S)
Renton F S (F/O)
Scott W P (Sgt)
Sterman B (F/S)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 05-01-1945
End Date 05-01-1945
Takeoff Station North Killingholme
Day/Night Raid Night
Operation Hannover
Reason for Loss Believed shot down by Flak, crashing circa 2150 into the Hindenburg Strasse at Langenhagen in Hannovers northern outskirts. Wreckage was scattered over a radius of 800 to 1,000 metres.

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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.