New Memorial Listings

New memorial data for individuals, crew, stations, squadrons and groups have been added.

View memorials

Armitage, Irving

Request an edit Submit a photo

Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) Irving
Surname Armitage
Gender M
Age 28
Date of Death 23-11-1943
Next of Kin Son of George Armitage and Adrianne Armitage (née Jacabi), of Wauchope, Saskatchewan. Husband of Margaret Maureen Jane Armitage (née Jenkins, marriage at Northallerton, Yorkshire on 1 November 1943 and at the time of their marriage she was living at Camp 3, HMS Gosling, Warrington, Lancs).
ARMITAGE I

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax V
Serial Number LK702
Markings IP-E

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Runnymede Memorial
Grave Reference Panel 172.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 123

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/22059
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 434 (Bluenose)
Squadron Motto In excelsis vincimus (We conquer in the heights)
Trade Navigator
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Armitage Lake, Saskatchewan
Country Canada
Memorial Type Lake
Memorial Text
View On Google Maps View On what3words
Location Village Green, Tholthorpe, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone with inscribed Metal Plaque and Maple Tree
Memorial Text A memorial to those Canadians who served at RCAF Tholthorpe during WW2, including 434 Sqn RCAF
View On Google Maps View On what3words
Location Former Control Tower, old Tholthorpe airfield site, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text A memorial to those Canadians who served at RCAF Tholthorpe during WW2, including 434 Sqn RCAF
View On Google Maps View On what3words

Miscellaneous Information

Irving was born on 4 June 1915 at Wauchope, Saskatchewan. His father, who died in 1940, was born in England and had worked as a Store Keeper and his mother was born in Holland. He was from a large family, and had five brothers, John, Clarence, Robert, Donald and George and a sister Vera, three other children having sadly died. Irving attended Parkman School, Sask. 1922-1929, Grade 8, Parkman High 1929-1933, Grade 12, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Normal School 1933-1934, and then studied 2nd year Arts at the University of Saskatoon. Irving was a teacher and was at East Bend S.D. 1934-1936, South Valley 1936-1938 and Arborfield 1938-1939 (all as a teacher). 1939-1940 he worked in a General Store and he was back teaching at Balgonie 1940-1941. His sport interests were hockey, tennis and swimming.
He enlisted on 25 October 1941 at Regina and after basic training embarked for the U.K. on 2 February 1943 arriving on 13 February. He went on to 23 OTU on 22 April 1943, 1659 CU 7 July 1943, 23 OTU 7 September , 1664 CU 23 September 1943 and 434 Squadron on 29 October 1943. He lost his life less than a month later.
Remarkably, his eldest brother Cpl. Harold George Armitage, was killed in action during World War I, on 1 October 1918 with 28th Batallion, Candian Army, at the age of 21. Another brother, Clarence Valmore also enlisted but was released as medically unfit.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Click here to view

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.

Mayo J R (F/O)
Plummer K G (Sgt)
Speight N G (Sgt)
Tedford B V (F/S)
Tomlinson J G (F/S)
Wilson J R (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 22-11-1943
End Date 23-11-1943
Takeoff Station Tholthorpe
Day/Night Raid Night (22% moon)
Operation Berlin. 764 aircraft- the largest raid on Berlin so far and the last to include Stirlings which had not fared well in recent raids on the city. Bad weather again kept the night-fighters at bay and as a result 26 aircraft were Lost (3.4%). The target was completely cloud-covered but despite the weather, this was the most successful raid on Berlin of the war. An unseasonably dry spell led to several firestorms and there was an immense area of destruction. At least 3000 houses were destroyed along with 23 industrial premises. 175000 people were bombed out and the list of municipal buildings damaged or destroyed is too long to include. The famous Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was hit this night- it is a famous landmark in Berlin to this day because it was deliberately only part-restored. Five Siemens factories and the Alkett tank works were destroyed, the latter having been moved to Berlin from the Ruhr after its destruction earlier in the conflict.
Reason for Loss Lost without trace

Honour This Person

Since 1945 the brave men and women who gave their lives whilst in the service of Bomber Command, to protect our country have been largely ignored and forgotten by successive governments.

It is now time to make that right.

Honour this person now

Events At IBCC

We have an exciting events programme here at IBCC! From Concerts with stars to our annual Salute to the 40s weekend, from Dinner dances to Family Fun Days..

Something for all the family!

View Upcoming Events
 
 
 
 

Please Wait

Close

Request An Edit

I warrant that the information i’m supplying is accurate to the best of my knowledge and I have the rights to provide this information.

Submit a Photo

I warrant that I own the copyright or have the correct commercial print licences in place for the images and or artwork I’m uploading.

Once submitted, your photo will be submitted for verification and will be shown on the database record shortly.

Disclaimer I acknowledge that I remain the copyright holder of the original document(s). I hereby grant copyright in the digital version to the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) and I consent to IBCC making digital copies freely available online under a Creative Commons non-commercial licence. IBCC may also use, reproduce or incorporate it into other works in any media, or licence its use for purposes of ensuring the sustainability of its Digital Archive and Losses Database. I understand that digital copies will be owned and controlled by IBCC, and I irrevocably agree to IBCC using and publishing digital copies however it sees fit, but always in line with its responsibilities to preserve and protect such ephemera.

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.