Gilchrist, William Carter

Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) William Carter
Surname Gilchrist
Gender M
Age 28
Date of Death 18-11-1943
Next of Kin Son of George Carter Gilchrist and Margaret Elizabeth Gilchrist (née Cormack) of Chipperfield, Saskatchewan, Canada.
GILCHRIST WC

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax V
Serial Number LK632
Markings SE-M

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Rheinberg War Cemetery
Grave Reference 20. B. 4.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 169

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/139912
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 431 (Iroquois)
Squadron Motto The hatiten ronteriios (Warriors of the air)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Gilchrist Bay, Saskatchewan
Country Canada
Memorial Type Bay
Memorial Text
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Location Adjacent to A19, Burn, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Memorial Stone
Memorial Text A memorial to all those who served on 431 Sqn RCAF at RCAF Burn, 1942-1943
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Location Village Green, Tholthorpe, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone with inscribed metal plaques & Maple Tree
Memorial Text In memory of all those who served at RCAF Tholthorpe during WW2 including 431 Sqn RCAF
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Location Old Control Tower, former airfield site, Tholthorpe, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text In memory of all those who served at RCAF Tholthorpe during WW2 including 431 Sqn RCAF
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Miscellaneous Information

William was born at Chipperfield, Saskatchewan on 3 April 1915. His father, deceased, was a farmer born at Dunbeath, Scotland and his mother was also born in Scotland. He had four brothers, George, John, James and Hugh and sisters, Pearl and Margaret. His mother later married Tom Oliver. His father had died in 1930. He attended Belvoir school 1922-1928. (Grade 8) and then again 1928-1929 when he took Grade 9. He preferred to play softball but also some of the other sports and his hobby was repairing cars, tractors etc. Between 1929 and 1937, William worked at home farming and trucking. He then worked at Wright Hargreaves Gold Mines at Kirkland Lake, Ontario, as an underground machine man between 1937-1939, where he was learning the trade. Then, still at Kirkland Lake, he worked for R.W.Calver, plumbing and fitting, 1939-1940. From 1940 onwards he farmed for himself.
William enlisted on 2 December 1941 and after basic training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from New York on 9 March 1943 arriving at 3PRC on 18 March 1943. He was then at 14 ITW on 12 June 1943, 8 AGS 17 July 1943, 1659 CU 28 August 1943 and 431 Squadron 24 September 1943. Sadly William lost his life on 18 November 1943.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The National Archives

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.

Last Operation Information

Start Date 18-11-1943
End Date 19-11-1943
Takeoff Station Tholthorpe
Day/Night Raid Night (59% moon)
Operation Mannheim. 395 aircraft, 23 losses (5.8%). This was one of the larger diversionary raids and accounts for the high losses. By comparison, the main raid (On Berlin) registered 2.0% losses. There was cloud cover over the target and bombing was scattered as a result. Most of the damage fell to the north of the town, where the Daimler Benz car plant suffered a 90% loss in production as a result. 21 deaths on the ground and 7500 people were bombed out.
Reason for Loss Crashed at Hohen-Sülzen, WSW of Worms, 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.