Bennett, John

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) John
Surname Bennett
Gender M
Age 30
Date of Death 30-07-1943
Next of Kin Son of John and Rachel Bennett. Husband of Mildred E. Bennett, of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
BENNETT J 158

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington X
Serial Number LN294
Markings QO-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 130

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/17158
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 432 (Leaside)
Squadron Motto Saeviter ad lucem (Ferociously towards the light)
Trade WOp/AG
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

John was born in Blackburn, England 30 July 1913 but was a Canadian citizen. A Private in the Essex Regiment from 1940 prior to enlisting in the RCAF. A brewery worker before the war, with the British American Brewing Co., of Windsor Ontario, since 1931. Their letter of recommendation to the RCAF describes him as 'sober, honest and industrious'. After arriving in the UK in February 1942 he was at No. 4 Signals School until 23 June 1942 and then 22 OTU RAF Wellesbourne until 23 August 1942 when posted to his Squadron.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1860/6
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1860/5

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.

Jewell V J (F/O)
Kerby H W (W/C)
Murphy P S J (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 29-07-1943
End Date 30-07-1943
Takeoff Station Skipton on Swale
Day/Night Raid Night (4% moon)
Operation Hamburg. 787 aircraft, 17 losses (2.2%). For the second consecutive raid, Brig. Gen. Anderson, the commander of the American 8th Air Force, flew as an observer on this operation. PFF used H2S to mark the target but were approximately 3km east of the centre of the city but was at least concentrated, leading to concentrated bombing with little creepback. This raid caused a firestorm resulting from very high summer temperatures and low humidity following a particularly dry spell. Most of the fire crews were in the west of the city following the raid of three nights earlier and few could make the journey to the new fires due to rubble blocking roads. The fires quickly joined into one mass of fire, drawing so much oxygen into the area that it caused storm-force winds. The fire raged for over three hours after the raid and only subsided when all combustible material was consumed. Approximately 40000 civilian deaths mostly from asphyxiation resulting from lack of oxygen. The raid led to an exodus of over 1.2 million people fearing another raid.
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed near Klecken, south of Harburg. The crew were initially interred in Lüneburg and later reburied in Ohlsdorf/Hamburg.

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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.