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Navey, Gordon

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Gordon
Surname Navey
Gender M
Age 25
Date of Death 04-08-1942
Next of Kin Son of Edward Navey and Amy Navey(née Briggs), of Ottawa, Ontario. Husband of Bertha Leonore Navey (née Bello). Marriage in Winnipeg on 20 September 1941.
NAVEY G

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington IC
Serial Number R1272
Markings JM-W

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Lossiemouth Burial Ground
Grave Reference Grave 1136.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 78

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/92365
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 91
Squadron 20 OTU
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Rural location, Bogs O'Mayne, Morayshire, Scotland
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone, Mural & Inscribed Metal Plaques
Memorial Text Erected on the site of RAF Elgin (Bogs of Mayne) a satellite airfield for No 20 OTU Lossiemouth between 1940 and 1945.
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Miscellaneous Information

Gordon was born on 27 December 1916 in Ottawa, Ontario. Both parents were born in England, his father in Staffordshire and his mother in Leeds, Yorkshire. His father worked as a Night Watchman. The schools Gordon attended were Royston, Vancouver 1923-1929 public and high schools; New Westminster B.C. 1930-1931 and T.J Trapp Technical High 1931-1933 (commercial). Gordon’s sport interests were football, boxing, golf and swimming and hobbies included motor boating, model aeroplane building and First Aid. He had belonged to the Naval Sea Cadets, New Westminster, for two years until they were disbanded. Between 1933-1940, Gordon worked for the Westminster Paper Company, firstly as an assistant and then as an operator on a paper converting machine.
He enlisted on 27 February 1941 and later embarked from Canada on 15 March 1942 for the U.K. He arrived at 3PRC on 24 March 1942, and 20 OTU on 16 June 1942.

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.

Churchley G H (Sgt)
Dunbar H S (Sgt)
Wynne G H (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 04-08-1942
End Date 04-08-1942
Takeoff Station Lossiemouth
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Training- night navigation exercise
Reason for Loss Aircraft took off at 0020hrs on a night navigation exercise. Became lost. The pilot thought he was over the sea and so shortly before 0330hrs began a descent. Shorly after the aircraft flew into "The Buck", a 2366ft mountain in the Grampians, 3 miles SE of Cabrach, Banff. Sgt Churchley was injured in the crash sustaining a fractured skull and compound fracture to his left leg. he unfortunately succumbed to these injuries.

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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.