Barnard, Leonard Joseph Died

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Leonard Joseph
Surname Barnard
Gender M
Age 25
Date of Death 24-10-1942
Next of Kin Son of Leonard Barnard and Amelia Barnard (née Steinhouse), of Brooklyn, New York. Husband of Alice Barnard (née Jackson)- marriage on 25 September 1938, Brooklyn. Father of Leonard Francis Barnard (born 18 April 1940).
BARNARD LJ 579

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Short Stirling I
Serial Number W7628
Markings OJ-B

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Brookwood Military Cemetery
Grave Reference 33. E. 9.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 127
BARNARD LJ 579

Location

Row -
Panel 127
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 2
Panel Number 127

Enlistment Information

Service Number 117579
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 3
Squadron 149 (East India)
Squadron Motto Fortis nocte (Strong by night)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin United States of America

Other Memorials

Location St. Mary's Churchyard, Cliffe, Isle of Grain, Kent
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Memorial
Memorial Text In memory of the crew of Stirling bomber W7628 which crashed in Cliff on 24th October 1942
Location St. George's Church, Methwold, Norfolk
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Roll of Honour & inscribed window
Memorial Text Roll of Honour of 149 Sqn RAF and a window remembering the men and women of all Nations who served at RAF Methwold, 1939-1945

Miscellaneous Information

Leonard was born on 3 November 1916 at Brooklyn , New York, USA. Both his parents were born in Brooklyn and his father worked as a Stevedore. He went to New York City School, 1922-1931 (primary) and Brooklyn Industrial High School, 1931-1933 where he studied electric wiring and radio. His sport interests were bowling and swimming and his hobby was radio mechanics. Leonard worked at the Winn Radio Company, Brooklyn as a radio mechanic 1933- 1938 and then at the Metropolitan Engineering Co.in Brooklyn as an engineer, 1938-1941 until enlisting.
He enlisted in Montreal on 16 July 1941, while his native USA was still neutral and in so doing, risked his citizenship. After early training, Leonard embarked from Canada on 20 July 1942 for the U.K. arriving at 3 PRC on 30 July 1942. He went on to 7 AGS on 18 August 1942 and 149 Squadron on 10 October 1942. It was from here exactly two weeks later that Leonard sadly lost his life.
Before Leonard was posted abroad he signed a document entrusting his son to the custody of another family in Quebec named Jolicoeur. His son was never to be given back to him , to his wife or anyone else and he wanted the little boy to remain a resident of Canada until he was twenty one. Perhaps Leonard wasn’t expecting to return. The child's mother still lived in America.

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1002/20
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1002/20

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
Blake R A (Sgt) Died
Bowden D J (Sgt) Died
Holmes E E C (Sgt) Died
Randall F K (F/O) Died
Siwak A A (F/S) Died
Taylor S F (Sgt) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 23-10-1942
End Date 24-10-1942
Takeoff Station Lakenheath
Day/Night Raid Night (100% moon)
Operation Genoa. 122 aircraft, 3 losses (2.5%). The area was completely cloud covered and the entire raid actually fell on the town of Savona, some 30 miles away
Reason for Aircraft Loss Ran out of fuel on return leg and crashed at Cliffe, north of Rochester, Kent
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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.