Essar, William

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) William
Surname Essar
Gender M
Age 22
Decorations
Date of Death 11-04-1944
Next of Kin Son of John Essar and Lena Essar (née Kitziul), of Winnipegosis, Manitoba, Canada.
ESSAR W

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number LL836
Markings BQ-E

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country France
Burial/Memorial Place Achiet-Le-Petit Communal Cemetery
Grave Reference Grave 6.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 33

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/90741
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 1
Squadron 550
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

William was born on 4 March 1922 at Theodore, Saskatchewan. His parents were both born in Bukowina, Austria and his father worked as a labourer. He had two brothers and five sisters living: Lois, Kae, Irene, Elsie and Irma and a further four siblings who had died in infancy. The schools he attended were Caldervale in Saskatchewan 1928-1936 (Public). Lysenko School in Theodore, Saskatchewan 1936-1937 (grade IX) and Caldervale High, 1937-1938 (grade X). The only sport he played was softball and his hobby was gas engines. Between 1938 - 1940 William worked at home farming in Winnipegosis and then undertook various odd jobs during 1940. He then worked as a labourer for the Steel Company of Canada, Hamilton,1940-1942 when he enlisted.
After he enlisted on 15 September 1942 and initial training, William was sent to the U.K. and arrived at 3 PRC on 2 July 1943. He went on to 28 OTU 9 July 1943, 1656 CU 12 August 1943, 100 Sqn, 9 October 1943 and 550 Squadron 17 February 1944. William was to lose his life on 11 April 1944.
There is a lake south of Takipy Lake named in his honour in 1982 (Grid reference: 55.259, -100.846)

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Click here to view

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2037/12
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2037/11

Fellow Servicemen

Guest T H (Sgt)
Logan J J (F/O)
Picton R W (F/L)
Potter J F (F/O)
Waycott W H (F/L)
Williams K P C (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 10-04-1944
End Date 10-04-1944
Takeoff Station North Killingholme
Day/Night Raid Night
Operation Aulnoye
Reason for Loss Shot down by night fighter, crashing near Bapaume

Honour This Person

Since 1945 the brave men and women who gave their lives whilst in the service of Bomber Command, to protect our country have been largely ignored and forgotten by successive governments.

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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.