Ballantyne, Wallace Bruce Died

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Wallace Bruce
Surname Ballantyne
Gender M
Age 21
Date of Death 09-10-1943
Next of Kin Son of William Graham Ballantyne and Ethel Florence Ballantyne (née Turner), of Unity, Saskatchewan.
BALLANTYNE WB

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax V
Serial Number LK647
Markings IP-C

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Hamburg Cemetery
Grave Reference 10A. D. 8.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 126
BALLANTYNE WB

Location

Row -
Panel 126
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 2
Panel Number 126

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/98593
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 434 (Bluenose)
Squadron Motto In excelsis vincimus (We conquer in the heights)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Ballantyne Lake, Saskatchewan
Country Canada
Memorial Type Lake
Memorial Text
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
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
Location Allerton Park Castle, Allerton, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text Memorial Garden dedicated to the 4272 personnel of 6 (RCAF) Gp based at Allerton Castle who gave the ultimate sacrifice during WWII to preserve our freedom
Location Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Propeller Unit & Inscribed Marble Tablets
Memorial Text Dedicated to the men & women of 6 (RCAF) Gp Bomber Command and to the 9980 Canadians lost serving in Bomber Command.

Miscellaneous Information

Wallace was born on 16 January 1922 in Unity, Saskatchewan. His father, a farmer, was born in Smith Falls, Ontario and hIs mother (deceased by the time of Wallace's enlistment), was born in Liverpool, England. The school he attended was at Muddy Lake, Saskatoon 1929-1935 (Standard) and then continuing 1935-1937 (Standard) Two years Grade ten. Wallace worked taking on odd jobs between 1937-1938 and then worked as a labourer on his father’s farm between 1938 -1940. From 1940-1941 he was on a Youth Training Course in Saskatoon. For sport he enjoyed hockey and softball and liked building model aeroplanes and reading.
He enlisted on 27 March 1941 and after training embarked from New York on 4 May 1943 for the U.K.. He arrived at 3 PRC 12 May 1943, 22 OTU 13 May 1943, 1669 CU 1 August 1943 and 428 Squadron on 26 August 1943. He was killed six weeks later.

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
MacDonald D H (F/O) Died
Small F G (F/O) Died
Steinacker A J (Sgt) Died
Swindale R L (Sgt) Died
Tiley F A (Sgt) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 08-10-1943
End Date 09-10-1943
Takeoff Station Tholthorpe
Day/Night Raid Night (74% moon)
Operation Hanover. 504 aircraft and the last to include Wellingtons, none of which were Lost 27 Lancasters and Halifaxes were Lost (5.4%). The Germans had correctly assumed that Hanover was the target and there was much night-fighter activity as a result. The conditions were clear and both marking and the subsequent bombing were accurate and concentrated, with little creepback. The electrical, water and telephone services were destroyed in what was Hanover's worst attack of the war. An impressive marshalling regime on the ground concentrated the public into areas between the fires, saving many lives. Even so, 1200 people were killed and 3345 injured. almost 4000 buildings were destroyed amongst which were the Continental rubber factory and Hanomag machine works.
Reason for Aircraft Loss Shot down by a night-fighter on return leg
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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.