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Campbell, Donald Edward

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Donald Edward
Surname Campbell
Gender M
Age 23
Date of Death 26-06-1943
Next of Kin Son of John Thomas Campbell and Alice Edna Campbell (née Britton), of Rouleau, Saskatchewan, Canada.
CAMPBELL DE 311

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Short Stirling III
Serial Number BK699
Markings LS-E

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Netherlands
Burial/Memorial Place Harlingen General Cemetery
Grave Reference Plot E. Row 4. Grave 12.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 140

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/142311
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 3
Squadron 15 (XV)
Squadron Motto Aim Sure
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Church of St. John, Beck Row, Suffolk
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablet on rear external wall of Church
Memorial Text In remembrance of all who served at RAF Mildenhall and associated aerodromes in the cause of freedom, 1939-1945
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Miscellaneous Information

Donald was born on 20 January 1920 at Rouleau, Saskatchewan. His father was born in the USA and worked as a carpenter and his mother, who was deceased by the time of Donald's enlistment, was born in Ontario. He had two sisters, Ethel and Evelyn, and two brothers, Fred and S.J., who were both in the RCAF overseas. The school he attended was Rosetown Public 1927-1935 (grade 8). He occasionally played softball. Donald carried out odd jobs farming, between 1935-1941 and then enlisted on 3 December 1941.
After training Donald embarked from Canada on 28 October 1942 arriving at 3 PRC 6 November 1942. He then continued to 12 OTU 8 December 1942, 1657 CU 18 March 1943 and 15 Squadron on 29 May 1943. Donald sadly lost his life the following month on 26 June 1943.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/203/60
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/203/59

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.

Chapman M A (F/O)
Condron J (Sgt)
Pavely R F (P/O)
Smith A K (Sgt)
Warbey T E (Sgt)
Woodward A (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 25-06-1943
End Date 26-06-1943
Takeoff Station Mildenhall
Day/Night Raid Night (38% moon)
Operation Gelsenkirchen. 473 aircraft, 30 losses (6.3%). The first raid in around two years on this Ruhr town. Cloud cover and unserviceable Oboe equipment in 5 of the 12 Mosquitoes meant that the target was not well marked. As a result the local report puts the number of buildings destroyed at just 24. 16 deaths on the ground. Some nearby towns were hit in error, particularly Solingen with more people being killed there than in Gelsenkirchen itself. A good illustration of the dependency on PFF marking for raid success.
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed south of Ameland

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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.