Paul, Thomas Keith Died

Back

Personal Information

Rank W/O
Forename(s) Thomas Keith
Surname Paul
Gender M
Age 26
Date of Death 04-01-1944
Next of Kin Son of Thomas Paul and of Margaret Isobelle Paul (née Savage), originally of 3 Bridges Row, Carrville, Durham, England and later of Normandale, Wellington, New Zealand.
PAUL TK

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington IC
Serial Number Z8793
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Durham (St. Oswald's) Burial Ground
Grave Reference Row K. Grave 56.

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 83

Enlistment Information

Service Number 41525
Service Royal New Zealand Air Force
Group 92
Squadron 11 OTU
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin New Zealand

Miscellaneous Information

He attended Wellington College (NZ) and graduated with a degree in commerce. He then worked in store management with the Herbert Street Furniture Arcade before joining the RNZAF in 1940, at the age of 22. He had previously served for three-years in the Territorial Army. His flying training was carried out in New Zealand (commencing January 1941). After qualifying as a pilot he travelled to the UK and after training at 10 OTU on Wellingtons, joined 207 Squadron at RAF Bottesford in November 1941. However, on 24 May 1942, the Lancaster he was piloting (R5617) crashed in bad weather during a training flight, at Standon Hill, near Tavistock. Four crew died and he was taken to hospital with severe head injuries. After recovering, he was posted in August 1942 as a Staff Pilot to 11 OTU, RAF Westcott, where he worked until November 1943 when he re-crewed to return to combat flying for a second operational tour.
He was laid to rest close to the original family home.

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
Clayton E (Sgt) Died
Coulter A L (F/S) Died
O'Callaghan J (F/S) Died
Payne V E (Sgt) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 03-01-1944
End Date 04-01-1944
Takeoff Station Westcott
Day/Night Raid Night (63% moon)
Operation Night cross country exercise
Reason for Aircraft Loss Hit a balloon cable and crashed near Slough
Start new losses database search Back
 
 
 
 

Please Wait

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.