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Hewitt, Herbert

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Herbert
Surname Hewitt
Gender M
Date of Death 27-01-1944
HEWITT H 775

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Short Stirling III
Serial Number EH933
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Staveley (St. James) Churchyard
Grave Reference New ground. Grave 543.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 48

Enlistment Information

Service Number 1286775
Service Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Group 5
Squadron 1660 HCU
Trade Flight engineer
Country of Origin United Kingdom

Other Memorials

Location Rural location, Bridgetown, Somerset
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial stone and inscribed metal plaque
Memorial Text In memory of the crew of 1660 HCU Stirling EH933 which broke up at altitude on 27th January 1944
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Miscellaneous Information

ORB for RAF Culmhead (which handled the aftermath of the crash), snippet of entry under 26.1.44: “Unsettled weather continued. Bad weather again prevented flying. A Stirling aircraft crashed during the night at Exton, south of Minehead. The crew (8) from No. 1660 C.U. R.A.F. Swinderby were killed and the bodies brought into the Station.” Snippet of entry under 31.1.44: “Seven coffins were despatched by rail to different parts of the country for private funerals following the Stirling crash on 26.1.44.” (the eigth, that of the pilot, not being part of the despatch because he was buried locally)

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.

Ackroyd B (Sgt)
Jones T H (Sgt)
Kerry J (Sgt)
Partridge R A (Sgt)
Street R (Sgt)
Thursby A (Sgt)
Tomkinson C V (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 26-01-1944
End Date 27-01-1944
Takeoff Station Swinderby
Day/Night Raid Night (3% moon)
Operation Night cross country exercise
Reason for Loss Broke up at high altitude over Devon, the wreckage being scattered over a wide area, the main parts of the fuselage falling at Exton, near Somerset (and not Exton near Exeter as frequently reported)

Honour This Person

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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.