Kyle, William Thomas Died

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) William Thomas
Surname Kyle
Gender M
Age 27
Date of Death 20-02-1942
Next of Kin Son of WIlliam Harold Kyle and Roonie Kyle (née Laurence ), of Manitoba.
KYLE WT

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Bristol Blenheim IV
Serial Number Z5899
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Sutton Coldfield New Cemetery
Grave Reference Grave 3.

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 60

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/71497
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 7
Squadron 17 OTU
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Kyle Bay, Manitoba; The northern tip of Forsman Lane
Country Canada
Memorial Type Bay
Memorial Text
Location On Grass Verge, Ramsey Rd, Upwood, Cambridgeshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone & Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text From RAF Upwood, crews from 139 and 156 Sqns, No 8 Pathfinder Group marked targets for Bomber Command

Miscellaneous Information

William was born at Gimli, Manitoba on 25 April 1914. His father was born at Henset, Ontario and was a builder and contractor and his mother, who was deceased by the time of William's enlistment, was born at Gimli. After his Mother’s death his father re-married a lady named Lucille. He had two brothers, Wilton Henry and Lawrence Harold and two sisters Elizabeth and Winifred. He attended Riverview school, Manitoba 1920-1927 (grades 1-8); Kelvin School, Manitoba, 1928-1931 (grades 8-11); studying wood trimming and electric shops and Kelvin Night School 1931-1933 (Blue print reading and auto mechanics) The sports William was interested in were bowling, hockey, golf, skiing, skating and swimming and his hobby was anything to do with aircraft. He was a family member of Kyle and sons builders, Winnipeg, where he worked as an apprentice carpenter 1931-1935, for H. Moore as an apprentice mechanic. 1936-1939 and for Dominion Motors as a Service Salesman from 1939-1940.
William enlisted on 16 October 1940 and embarked from Canada for the U.K. on 15 August 1941. He arrived at 3PRC on 15 September 1941, and 17 OTU 14 October 1941.
His brother Wilton Henry was also in the RCAF after enlisting on his 21st birthday. Sadly at the age of 22, he also lost his life. He was Sgt observer R/106142 and he was in a Liberator of the North Atlantic Ferry Command Service when it crashed at Newfoundland on 9 February 1943.

Casualty Pack Number Find Out More

AIR 81/12223 (P366234/42)

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
de Lisser L S (Sgt) Died
Scott E (Sgt) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 20-02-1942
End Date 20-02-1942
Takeoff Station Upwood
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Navigation exercise
Reason for Aircraft Loss During low-level exercise hit barrage balloon cable near Birmingham and crashed
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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.