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Burke, Joseph Gerard

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Joseph Gerard
Surname Burke
Gender M
Age 20
Date of Death 20-02-1944
Next of Kin Son of Frederick Burke and Emilie Burke (née Pothier), of Sluice Point, Nova Scotia, Canada. Joseph had three brothers and three sisters.
BURKE JG

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax III
Serial Number LV829
Markings ZL-D

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
Grave Reference 8. E. 28.
Epitaph THE JUST SHALL LIVE FOR EVERMORE: THEIR REWARD IS WITH THE LORD. WISDOM V.16

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 138

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/53147
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 427 (Lion)
Squadron Motto Ferte manus certas (Strike sure)
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Roman Rd, Leeming, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Brass plaque set into a stone plinth into which is carved with the Canadian maple leaf and the Yorkshire rose.
Memorial Text This memorial is dedicated to those men and women who served at RAF Leeming during World War II, including those from the Royal Canadian Air Force Squadrons, whose members came from all parts of the Commonwealth from 1942 to 1945; 405 Vancouver, 408 Goose
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Location Opposite old Main Guardroom, RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stone Memorial & Metal Plaques
Memorial Text In commemoration of those men and women of many nations who served at RAF Leeming during the second world war.
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Miscellaneous Information

Born 21 October 1923 in Sluice Point, Nova Scotia. His father was American and worked as a fisherman. His mother was Canadian and pre-deceased Joseph on 8 October 1923. His father was shown as living back in America on Jospeh's enlistment papers, although Jospeh himself was a Canadian citizen. He attended Sluice Point Public school between 1931 and 1941 and then worked as a farmer at Sluice Point between July and November 1941. He had tried to enlist on the 27 th August 1941 but was refused because he was too young. He eventually enlisted on 14 March 1942 and embarked from Halifax, Nova Scotia on 27 May 1943. Arriving in the U.K. on 4 June 1943 he went through 3 PRC, 15 AND 18 (P) AFU, 22 OTU, 16 Base and finally 427 Squadron.
He enjoyed playing baseball, softball and hockey.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1846/4
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1846/3

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.

Jonasson D H (P/O)
McKenzie J P (P/O)
Olsvik D O (F/O)
Richard J P F (Sgt)
Taillon J A G (Sgt)
Tobin W R (WO2)
Warren R L (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 19-02-1944
End Date 20-02-1944
Takeoff Station Leeming
Day/Night Raid Night (22% moon)
Operation Leipzig. 823 aircraft, 78 losses (9.5%). Excluding early returners, the Halifax loss rate was 14.9%. As a result, Halifax Mks II and V were permanently withdrawn from service over Germany. The Kiel mine laying diversion was successful in drawing off fighters, but the German controllers only sent half of the available aircraft. As soon as the bomber stream crossed the Dutch coast they were confronted by the remaining half of the fighters and, moreover, the ones sent to Kiel were returned to join the fray. As a consequence, the fighters steadily picked off bombers all the way to this distant target. The winds were strongly than had been predicted and many bombers arrived early and had to orbit the target awaiting the Pathfinders, further increasing the likelihood of being picked off, either by flak or fighters. Leipzig was cloud covered and sky-marking had to be used. Early bombing appeared to be concentrated but later bombing less so. There was no local report nor a reconnaissance flight the following day. An American raid the following day then made it impossible to judge the effectiveness of the raid.
Reason for Loss Crashed near Stendal, Germany

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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.