Flette, Clifford Nicholas Died

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Clifford Nicholas
Surname Flette
Gender M
Age 18
Date of Death 19-11-1944
Next of Kin Son of Robert Nicholas Flette and Sadie Flette (née Jay), of Fort Vermillion, Alberta, Canada.
FLETTE CN

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax II
Serial Number DT735
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Runnymede memorial
Grave Reference Panel 255.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 165
FLETTE CN

Location

Row -
Panel 165
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 2
Panel Number 165

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/260951
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 7
Squadron 1666 HCU
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

Clifford was born at Fort Vermillion, Alberta, on 28 January 1926. His father was a farmer born at Fort Vermillion, and his mother at British Colombia. His parents had separated when he was very young and he was brought up by his father and step mother Margaret. He had two half brothers and two half sisters. The schools he attended were Stewart S.D., Alberta 1931-1941 (8) and then at Peace River 1941-1942 (10). His sport interests were hockey, skiing and baseball. His hobby was building model aircraft. Clifford helped his father on their farm.
After enlisting on 25 August 1943 (at the age of 17) and his early training, he was posted to the U.K. and embarked from Halifax on 25 May 1944. After arriving at 3 RCAF(PRC) on 3 June 1944 he went to 22 OTU 27 June 1944 and 61 Base 27 September 1944. He sadly lost his life from 1666 HCU on 19 November 1944 when his aircraft went missing on a training exercise. He was only 18 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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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
Bailey T R (F/O) Died
Emery J F (WO1) Died
Gray R S (Sgt) Died
Hine E A (F/O) Died
Norris E V (Sgt) Died
O'Donnell J N (F/O) Died
Osborn J E (F/O) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 19-11-1944
End Date 19-11-1944
Takeoff Station Wombleton
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Training- three engine flying practice
Reason for Aircraft Loss Lost without trace

Honour This Person

Since 1945 the brave men and women who gave their lives whilst in the service of Bomber Command, to protect our country have been largely ignored and forgotten by successive governments.

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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.