Black, Douglas Allan Died

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Douglas Allan
Surname Black
Gender M
Age 21
Date of Death 10-08-1943
Next of Kin Son of Foster Tracey Black and Bertha Louise Black (née Richardson), of Rolling Dam, New Brunswick, Canada.
BLACK DA

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax II
Serial Number HR872
Markings LQ-K

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Belgium
Burial/Memorial Place Florennes Communal Cemetery
Grave Reference Row 5. Coll. grave 63-65.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 131
BLACK DA

Location

Row -
Panel 131
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 2
Panel Number 131

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/84830
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 8
Squadron 405 (Vancouver)
Squadron Motto Duicmus (We lead)
Trade Flight Engineer
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location N803 Les Fermes, Awenne (Saint-Hubert), Luxembourg Province
Country Belgium
Memorial Type Memorial shrine, memorial stone and inscribed stone tablet, info board and Canadian Maple Leaf tree
Memorial Text En memoire de K. GRAY – H. KING – D. BLACK – J. EVANS – A. MIDDLETON – Ch. PICKERING – J. HANNA, Halifax HR 872 LQ-K, 405e Escadron de la RCAF – 10 aout 1943, “Ils ont sacrifie leur aujourd’hui pour nos lendemains de liberte” “They sacrificed their present for our future freedom” Ville de Saint-Hubert, 15/09/2012
Translation "In Memoriam: K. GRAY – H. KING – D. BLACK – J. EVANS – A. MIDDLETON – Ch. PICKERING – J. HANNA, Halifax HR 872 LQ-K, 405 Squadron RCAF – August 10, 1943, "They sacrificed their present for our future freedom" City of Saint-Hubert, 15/09/2012"
Location Adjacent to Village Windmill, Mill Rd, Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone with inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text Remembering 405 (Vancouver) Sqn. PFF at Gransden Lodge 1942 - 1945
Location St. Bartholomew's Church, Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stained Glass Window, RoH and inscribed metal plaque
Memorial Text Commemorating the 801 airmen of 405 Sqn. RCAF who gave their lives 1941 - 1945
Location Pocklington Gliding Club, Pocklington Airfield, East Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Marble Pillar and inscribed metal plaque
Memorial Text In memory of 102 (Ceylon) and 405 (Vancouver) Sqns. Pocklington Airfield

Miscellaneous Information

F/S Gray and F/O Middleton were from Medicine Hat, in Alberta and presumably joined up together
Douglas was born on 5 August 1922 at Rolling Dam, New Brunswick. His father, who worked as a labourer, was born at Dumbarton, New Brunswick and his mother at Bartlett’s Mills. New Brunswick. The school he attended was Rolling Dam, 1928-1938 (High School Entrance, grade 8) He also took a 3 month Youth Training Course, 1940-1941 on Aero Engine Mechanics. During 1939 he was farming at home and then spent a few months farming in 1940 with Allison Thomas at St. Stephen. He then worked as a lumberman for Mark McShane at Rolling Dam for a further few months. His sport interests were hockey and baseball.
Douglas enlisted on 27 February 1941 and after training was sent to the U.K. where he arrived at 3PRC on 4 November 1941. He went on to 415 Sqn on 13 November 1941, 405 Sqn on 27 November 1942, 1659 CU 18 December 1942, 405 Sqn 16 January 1943 and eventually arrived at 405 Squadron on 4 April 1943. Douglas had a brother, named Marvin Foster Black, born 1921. He was with the Corps. of Military Staff and served with Force C , the 1st Battn. Royal Rifles of Canada. He served in Ontario and Hong Kong and sadly lost his life out there on 19 December 1941. He is buried in Hong Kong.

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1788/16
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1788/16

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
Evans J H (F/S) Died
Gray K M (F/L) Died
Hanna J (F/S) Died
King H (Sgt) Died
Middleton A J (F/O) Died
Pickering C W (F/S) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 09-08-1943
End Date 10-08-1943
Takeoff Station Gransden Lodge
Day/Night Raid Night (59% moon)
Operation Mannheim. 457 aircraft, 9 losses (2.0%). Cloud cover meant that the target marking plan didn't work out and bombing was scattered as a result. Nevertheless, much damage was caused with 1316 buildings destroyed or rendered useless and 42 industrial premises suffered loss of production, filing compensation claims for over £4M.
Reason for Aircraft Loss Short down by a night-fighter and crashed NW of St Hubert, Belgium
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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.