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Campton, Clifden Homer Foch

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Clifden Homer Foch
Surname Campton
Gender M
Age 25
Date of Death 02-11-1944
Next of Kin Son of James Campton and Ruth Anna Campton (née King) of Montreal, PQ, Canada
CAMPTON CHF

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax VII
Serial Number LW199
Markings OW-C

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Rheinberg War Cemetery
Grave Reference 17. F. 20.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 141

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/95160
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 426 (Thunderbird)
Squadron Motto On wings of fire
Trade Air Bomber
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Adjacent to Village Hall, Dishforth, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone with Inscribed Metal Plaque & Maple Tree
Memorial Text In memory of the Canadian aircrew of 425 and 426 Sqns RCAF who served at RAF Dishforth, 1942-1945
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Location Outside Village Hall, Linton on Ouse, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone with inscribed Slate Tablet
Memorial Text In memory of Canadian personnel who served at RAF Linton on Ouse during WW2, including 408 and 426 Sqns RCAF
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Miscellaneous Information

Clifden was born at Montreal, P.Q. on 8 November 1918. His father was born in Northern Ireland and was a ship’s worker and his mother was born in Ireland. He was one of six children. Sisters Ruth and Moyra and a third sister, Deirdre, who had died in 1944. Brothers Mark Edgar and J/95225 Albert Spencer Blair. Albert also sadly lost his life in the service of Bomber Command on 7 January 1945. He attended Rosemount Public School and Gilson Public in Montreal 1923-1930 (primary). Then West Hill High School 1930-1932, Montreal. His sport interests were baseball and hockey. Clifden worked as a clerk for National Sales and Distribution between 1932-1938. He was then a security clerk 1939-1940, part time, a ticket man and stock keeper 1938-1940 doing winter work at YMCA and a Blind maker for 3 months in 1940. He then took on piece work for Canadian Vickers Ltd. where he was employed until enlisting.
He enlisted on 10 October 1941 and after training embarked for the U.K. on 1 November 1943. He arrived at 3PRC (RCAF) on 10 November 1943, 3(0)AFU 15 February 1944, 82 OTU 11 April 1944, 61 Base 25 June 1944 and on to 426 Squadron 6 October 1944. Clifden was to lose his life from there the following month 2 November 1944.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1842/22
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1842/21

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.

Grundy E H (Sgt)
Harrison R W (F/O)
Scott R B (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 02-11-1944
End Date 03-11-1944
Takeoff Station Linton-on-Ouse
Day/Night Raid Night (92% moon)
Operation Dusseldorf. 992 aircraft, 19 losses- 4 of which crashed behind Allied lines (0.4%). Most of the bombing fell on the northern suburbs with more than 5000 houses being destroyed . 7 industrial premises were destroyed and 18 seriously damaged, including some important steel works. At least 678 people were killed. This was the last significant raid on Düsseldorf.
Reason for Loss Hit by flak

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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.