Thornton, Jack Hardy Died

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Jack Hardy
Surname Thornton
Gender M
Age 22
Date of Death 31-03-1944
Next of Kin Son of Frederick James Hardwick Thornton and Almira Belle Thornton (née Hardy), of Greensville, Ontario , Canada.
THORNTON JH 631

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster lll
Serial Number ND568
Markings EM-L

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Durnbach War Cemetery
Grave Reference Coll. grave 5. B. 6-16.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 107
THORNTON JH 631

Location

Row -
Panel 107
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 1
Panel Number 107

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/19631
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 5
Squadron 207 (City of Leicester)
Squadron Motto Semper paratus (Always prepared)
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location St. Mary the Virgin Church, Bottesford, Leicestershire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablet and Roll of Honour within wooden case
Memorial Text Roll of Honour and memorial to the members of 207 Sqn RAF who served at RAF Bottesford during WW2
Location X, Great Steeping, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed group of Memorial Stones with adjacent info board
Memorial Text In memory of 207 Sqn RAF which served at RAF Spilsby and of 10 Sqn Armourers killed in an accident on 10th April 1944
Location All Saints Church, Great Steeping
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Marble Tablet and Roll of Honour within wooden case
Memorial Text Roll of Honour and memorial to the members of 207 Sqn RAF who served at RAF Spilsby during WW2
Location Stn Church, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Stone Tablet
Memorial Text In memory of 207 Sqn RAF which served at RAF Waddington between 1 November 1940 and 18th November 1941
Location Harby Rd, Langar, Nottinghamshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Memorial Stone
Memorial Text A memorial to 207 Sqn RAF which served at RAF Langar during WW2
Location St. Andrew's Church, Langar, Nottinghamshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Brass Plaque & Roll of Honour within wooden case
Memorial Text Roll of Honour and a memorial to the personnel of 207 Sqn RAF who were killed flying from RAF Langar during WW2
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- 619-625-626-627-647
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)-550-576-617-619-625-626-627-647"
Location Lincoln County Hospital Chapel, Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text In memory of Officers, NCO's & Other Ranks of 5 (Bomber) Group RAF who gave their lives Sept 1939 - May 1945

Miscellaneous Information

Jack was born on 6 July 1921 at Greensville, Ontario. Both parents were born in Ontario; his father, a Woollen Manufacturer, in Greenville and his mother in Teeswater. He had two sisters, Agnes Jean and Barbara Joan and a brother Donald Clerk who had sadly died In January 1930. He attended Dundas Public School 1927-1935 and then Dundas High School 1935 -1939. He then went to the Business College in 1940 for six months, (Commercial) which he continued at night school for a further eight months. He took part in swimming and skating and his main hobby was playing the saxophone and clarinet. Jack worked at the Dundas Woollen Mills as a spinner between 1939-1940 and then spent some time at Fatum Motors Ltd. in Hamilton where he was a stock keeper during 1940. He ended 1940-1941 by becoming a Time Keeper for N. Slater Company, also in Hamilton.
On 24 September 1941 Jack enlisted and after training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from New York on 22 November 1942 and arrived in the U.K. at 3PRC on 1 December 1942. From there he went to 15 (P) AFU on 29 February 1943, 29 OTU 4 May 1943, 1661 CU 30 September 1943, 51 Base 22 January 1944 and 207 Squadron on 31 January 1944. Sadly Jack was then to lose his life two months later on 31 March 1944.
His NCO service number was R/131202

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1235/6
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1235/6

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
Cottrell N R (Sgt) Died
Davis C F C (Sgt) Died
Dyson J D (Sgt) Died
Latham A (Sgt) Died
Thompson R F (F/S) Died
Thorpe G R (P/O) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 30-03-1944
End Date 31-03-1944
Takeoff Station Spilsby
Day/Night Raid Night (45% moon)
Operation Nürnberg
Reason for Aircraft Loss Aircraft took off from Spilsby at 2210 hrs detailed to attack targets in Nurnberg. Nearing the target area the Lancaster was hit with Cannon fire from an Me 110 piloted by Hptm Gustav Tham of ll/NJG5 at 0103 hrs crashing with great force near Schweinfurt
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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.