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Sanderson, George Benjamin

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) George Benjamin
Surname Sanderson
Gender M
Age 31
Decorations Dr.
Date of Death 26-05-1944
Next of Kin Son of Benjamin Sanderson and Amelia May Sanderson (née Ward), of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
SANDERSON GB

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number L7578
Markings RC-L

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Newark-Upon-Trent Cemetery
Grave Reference Sec. F. Coll. grave 309.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 94

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/86545
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 5
Squadron 5 LFS
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Glebe Farm, Gonalston, Nottinghamshire * PRIVATE PROPERTY *
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed memorial stone
Memorial Text In memory of the crew of 5 LFS Lancaster W4232 which stalled and crashed shortly after take off on 17th April 1944
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Miscellaneous Information

George was born on 31 January 1913 in Saskatoon. His father, who died in 1939, was born in Ontario and was a Businessman and his mother, who died 1936, was born in Bobcaygeon, Ontario. He had one sister, Mabel May who lived in Winnipeg. He also had a stepmother, Louise. George attended Westmount School, Saskatoon 1919-1925 and Bedford Collegiate 1925-1928 (both General Courses). He then went to the University of British Columbia, 1931-1934 (Commerce. B.Com.), O.C.E. Toronto 1935-1936 as a teacher and gained a PhD in Commerce at the University of London, England, 1937-1941. He was a Home Guard in England, 1940-1941. Between 1934-1935 he was working as an accountant for Canadian General Electric and was teaching at Ridley college 1936-1936. He then worked as an Economist for John Woods, 1942-1942 until enlisting. George enjoyed playing golf, tennis and riding.
He enlisted on 2 July 1942 and embarked from Halifax for the U.K. on 30 June 1943. He arrived at 3 PRC on 8 July 1943, 20 (P) AFU 17 August 1943, 18 OTU 16 November 1943 and 51 Base 8 March 1944. Then to 1660 CU 2 April 1944 and then to 5 LFS (undated).
In his will, after making sure that his aunt (his mother’s sister) was taken care of, he then left most of the remaining money for scholarships. Every two years he wanted a male student from the University of Saskatchewan to be chosen to be awarded a Social Science Scholarship in the London School of Economics. George wanted it to be known as the Benjamin J. Sanderson Fellowship and it is still awarded each year, under that very name.

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.

Broe B (Sgt)
Clark A D (Sgt)
Middlemas J G (Sgt)
Nicholls D (Sgt)
Noble A T (P/O)
Wright D (F/S)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 26-05-1944
End Date 26-05-1944
Takeoff Station Syerston
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Navigation/bombing exercise
Reason for Loss Aircraft took off at 1850hrs for a combined exercise at night, in navigation and bombing. From height of approximately 8000ft the aircraft for unknown reason dived and crashed at 2215hrs at Glebe Farm, Gonalston, Nottingham.

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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.