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Barlow, John Preston

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Personal Information

Rank F/L
Forename(s) John Preston
Surname Barlow
Gender M
Age 27
Date of Death 05-02-1945
Next of Kin Son of Joseph Howard Barlow and Greeta Belle Barlow (née Clark), of Wellington, Prince Edward Island. Husband of Kathleen May Barlow (née Townsend). Marriage on 23 December 1942 at Southampton Register Office, Nova Scotia.
BARLOW JP

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster X
Serial Number KB787
Markings VR-M

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Belgium
Burial/Memorial Place Hotton War Cemetery
Grave Reference IV. B. 6.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 127

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/16953
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 419 (Moose)
Squadron Motto Moosa aswayita
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Outside Former St. Georges Hotel, Teesside Airport, County Durham
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Memorial Tablet on Stone Memorial
Memorial Text A memorial to Nos 419, 420 and 428 Sqns RCAF who flew from RAF Middleton St George during WW2
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Miscellaneous Information

John was born on 11 June 1917 at Westville, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, and went by the name of Preston, although he was invariably known as 'Pemp' by family and friends. His father was born at Tyne Valley, Prince Edward Island, and he worked as a clerk and his mother born at Harcourt, New Brunswick. He had two brothers - Lowell (who served in the Navy) and Harry, and five sisters, Grace, Marjorie, Lois, Beryl and Daisy. John went to the Wellington School at P.E.l. between 1924-1935 (Jnr Matric) and took a Correspondence Course at Radio College of Canada, Toronto (Commercial Operating). His sport interests were skating, baseball and hockey and his hobby was the radio. John worked as a gravel checker and office clerk for the P.E.I. Government Department of Public Works and Highways, 1937-1940.
On 15 July 1940 John enlisted and after training he embarked for the U.K. on 26 June 1944. After arriving at 3 PRC on3 July 1944: he went on to 61 Base 22 July 1944, 1664 CU 24 July 1944 and 419 Squadron on 30 August 1944. It was from here on 5 February 1945 that John was to lose his life, on his 50th op. He had been shot down on a previous op. and spent six hours in a dinghy before being rescued.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1823/28
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1823/27

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.

Buchanan D J A (F/L)
Edmonds L F (F/O)
Gibbs J A (F/O)
Kearns W R (F/L)
Spence D W (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 04-02-1945
End Date 05-02-1945
Takeoff Station Middleton St. George
Day/Night Raid Night (54% moon)
Operation Bonn. 238 aircraft, 3 losses. A poor raid with most bombs falling in the Beuel area
Reason for Loss Collided, while flying in cloud on the outbound leg, with a 433 Sqn Lancaster (PA219 BM-M). Both aircraft crashed at Vielsalm, Luxembourg

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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.