Saundercook, Roland James Died

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Roland James
Surname Saundercook
Gender M
Age 20
Date of Death 16-03-1945
Next of Kin Son of Bruce Madden Saundercook and Helen Bernice Saundercook (née Yeoman) of Collins Bay, Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada.
SAUNDERCOOK RJ

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number PB785
Markings UL-L2

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Durnbach War Cemetery
Grave Reference Coll. grave 4. H. 10-12.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 94
SAUNDERCOOK RJ

Location

Row -
Panel 94
Column -
Line -

Directions From the Chadwick Centre, take the central path towards The Spire.

Phase 1
Panel Number 94

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/269079
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 1
Squadron 576
Squadron Motto Carpe diem (Seize the day)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

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
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
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
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
Location In front of the mess esplanade, Mailly-le-Camp, 10 - Aube Prefecture
Country France
Memorial Type Stone memorial sculpture, inscribed marble tablets and inscribed metal plaque
Memorial Text En souvenir des heros de la RAF. Qui ont participe au bombardment du camp de Mailly. Unites de la RAF engagees dans le raid sur Mailly-le-Camp, la nuit du 3 au 4 May 1944. N° 9-12-44-49-50-57 61-83-97-100-101 Special Duties Flight-103-105-106-166- 169-192-207-460 (RAAF)-463 (RAAF)-467 (RAAF)-550-576-617- 619-625-626-627-652
Translation "In memory of the RAF heroes who took part in the bombing of Mailly Camp. RAF units engaged in the raid on Mailly-le-Camp, the night of 3-4 May 1944. Squadrons that took part: N° 9-12-44-49-50-57 61-83-97-100-101 Special Duties Flight-103-105-106-166- 169-192-207-460 (RAAF)-463 (RAAF)-467 (RAAF)-550-576-617-619-625-626-627-652"
Location Bawtry Hall, Bawtry, South Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Marble Tablet
Memorial Text In memory of those who did not return 1939 - 1945

Miscellaneous Information

Roland was born at Kingston, Ontario on 25 January 1925. His father was born in Frontenac, Ontario and worked in the Marine Section of the RCAF and his mother was born at Lennox County. His father was a conservation officer. He had sisters Joan and Betty but a third sibling, Roy James had sadly died as an infant before Roland was born. He went to Bay View Public School in Collins Bay 1932-1939 (Academic) and Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, 1939-1941 (Academic). His sporting interests were shooting and hunting. Roland worked at home doing odd jobs between 1941-1942 and then worked as a labourer in the machine shop of the Aluminium Company in Kingston, 1942-1943.
He enlisted on 10 August 1943 and after training embarked from Halifax on 29 April 1944. He reached the U.K. and 3 PRC on 8 May 1944 and went on to 28 OTU on 6 June 1944, 11 Base 28 August 1944 and 576 Squadron on 31 October 1944. Sadly this young man was to lose his life on 16 March 1945.

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2047/32
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2047/32

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
Dotten F E (F/L) Died
Eve J (Sgt) Died
Gibb J S M (P/O) Died
Nicol W F (F/O) Died
Peverley E J (P/O) Died
Quinn D S (F/O) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 16-03-1945
End Date 17-03-1945
Takeoff Station Fiskerton
Day/Night Raid Night (12% moon)
Operation Nürnberg
Reason for Aircraft Loss Attacked by a night fighter flown by Luftwaffe ace Hptm Gerhard Friedrich and both aircraft collided, crashing near Stuttgart
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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.