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Derbyshire, Donovan Emmerson

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Donovan Emmerson
Surname Derbyshire
Gender M
Age 26
Date of Death 23-05-1944
Next of Kin Son of Seth Carman Derbyshire and Pearl Derbyshire (née Ried), of Wheatley, Ontario, Canada.
DERBYSHIRE DE

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster X
Serial Number KB717
Markings VR-E

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Rheinberg War Cemetery
Grave Reference Coll. grave 3. H. 18-22.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 155

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/88396
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 419 (Moose)
Squadron Motto Moosa aswayita
Trade WOp/AG
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Outside Former St. Georges Hotel, Teesside Airport, County Durham
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Memorial Tablet on Stone Memorial
Memorial Text A memorial to Nos 419, 420 and 428 Sqns RCAF who flew from RAF Middleton St George during WW2
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Miscellaneous Information

Donavan was born on 11 February 1918 at Wheatley, Ontario. Both parents were born in Wheatley. His mother was deceased by the time of his enlistment and his father was a Merchant. (His records show his mother’s maiden name spelt both Reid and Ried). He has a brother Mac, and sisters Ruth and Ann. Another sister Eve had sadly died aged about ten years. He is shown as attending Rodney Public School, Rodney, Ontario and also Southwold Station Public school between 1925-1932 (High School Entrance). He was then at Lambeth Continuation School, Ontario between 1932-1933 followed by St. Thomas Technical School 1933-1938 (Snr.Matric). He then went to the University of Western Ontario between 1938-1941 (Business Admin). His sport interests were rugby and wrestling.
Donavan enlisted on 9 January 1942 and after initial training embarked for the U.K. He arrived at 3PRC on 5 June 1943, and then went to 3 (0) AFU, 15 June 1943, 22 OTU 12 July 1943, 1659 CU, 15 October 1943 and reached 419 Squadron on 20 November 1943. Donovan was to lose his life on 23 May 1944.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1823/10
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1823/9

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.

Bailey W A (P/O)
Beckett A C (WO2)
Chawanski A P (F/S)
Jones O (F/S)
Mitchell W W (F/O)
Patterson C E G (P/O)
Wood R E N (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 22-05-1944
End Date 23-05-1944
Takeoff Station Middleton St. George
Day/Night Raid Night (1% moon)
Operation Dortmund. 375 aircraft, 18 Lancasters Lost (4.8%). Most of the bombing fell in the SE districts and mostly in residential areas. 852 houses and 6 buildings were destroyed. 361 were killed, including 22 PoW.
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed south of Mönchengladbach

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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.