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Norris, James

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) James
Surname Norris
Gender M
Age 20
Date of Death 28-12-1944
Next of Kin Son of John Norris and Mrs. Norris, of Ferrybank, Waterford, Republic of Ireland.
NORRIS J

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number NN750
Markings UL-M2

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Ireland, Republic of
Burial/Memorial Place Ferrybank Catholic Churchyard
Grave Reference Grave 71.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 79

Enlistment Information

Service Number 1900179
Service Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Group 1
Squadron 576
Squadron Motto Carpe diem (Seize the day)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin United Kingdom

Other Memorials

Location St. Clement of Rome Church, Fiskerton, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablet & 49 Sqn Roll of Honour
Memorial Text In memory of all who served at RAF Fiskerton 1943-1945
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Location St. Clement of Rome Church, Fiskerton, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablet
Memorial Text In memory of all who served at RAF Fiskerton 1943 - 1945 Per Erdua Ad Astra
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Location Water Treatment Works, Elsham Wolds, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Stone Memo and Propeller Sculpture
Memorial Text In memory of those who served at R.A.F. Elsham Words 1941 - 1945
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Location All Saints Church, Elsham, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Stone Tablet
Memorial Text In memory of the Airmen of 576 Sqn who gave their lives in 1939 - 45 War
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Miscellaneous Information

Munster Express January 5th, 1945: DEATH OF MR. JAMES NORRIS. It was with sincere regret that the death in England on Friday last of Mr. James, (Doc) Norris (20), Ard Mhuire, Ferrybank, was heard throughout Ferrybank and district. A popular young man, deceased was a well known P. H. Pearse hurler. He was the son of Mr. John Norris, a member of the composing room staff of Messrs. G. D. Croker and Mrs Norris. He was brother of Mr. Maurice (Buddy) Norris, another P H Pearse hurler; Miss Gretta Norris, Ard Mhuire; Mr. Sean Norris a member of the Defence Forces; and nephew of Mr. J. Norris, a former m ember of Waterford Corporation.. The remains of the late James Norris arrived by the 1.30 p.m. train ex-Kingsbridge at Waterford on Thursday and were met by a large and representative concourse of friends and sympathisers, which was indicative of the esteem and regard in which the late Mr. Norris was held. The coffin was borne by playing members of the P.H. Hurling and Football Club to the waiting hearse, and many beautiful floral tributes were placed on the coffin. The funeral, accompanied by Very Rev. E. Canon Brennan, P.P., V.F., and Rev. P. Hally, C.C., do. took place to the Church of the Sacred Heart, Ferrybank, and following the last prayers at the church, the interment took place in the family burial grounds. To the bereaved parents, brothers and sisters we tender our sincere sympathy.—R.I.P.
The Flight Engineer was 1895870 Sgt. Philip Arthur Lake. He had been despatching bundles of Window through the Window chute in the nose at the time when the pilot commenced a violent corkscrew manoeuvre to evade a second night-fighter attack. He was sucked out of the aircraft's front hatch, which appears to have been damaged during the previous attack. He descended through snow showers with his parachute catching on the tops of pine trees. Unable to climb down he cut the parachute and fell to the ground, hurting his back on a log. He succeeded in getting to Bonn where he was captured and taken to Stalag Luft III, where made three attempts to escape. Eventually he was returned to England. At the time of the crash in England, Sgt. Lake's parents had initially been asked if they wanted him buried with the crew or returned to them. Some days later the CO wrote to them that they could not find him, only parts of his equipment. Some six months later, they finally received a card from him in the PoW camp, confirmed by the Red Cross a week later (PoW number 1895870). He died on 11 February 1999 at Ruan Minor, Helston, Cornwall.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2047/26
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2047/25

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.

Angus K (F/S)
Bull L J (F/S)
Campbell C G (F/S)
Fletcher D (F/O)
Warren G (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 28-12-1944
End Date 29-12-1944
Takeoff Station Fiskerton
Day/Night Raid Night (100% moon)
Operation Bonn
Reason for Loss Aircraft badly damaged on raid, crew used great skill in getting it across the Channel. Crashed near Manston after attempting a landing using only trimmers and on attempting to overshoot was unable to maintain flying speed, stalled and crashed, killing all who remained onboard.

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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.