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Hicks, Harold Stanley

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Harold Stanley
Surname Hicks
Gender M
Age 22
Date of Death 25-06-1943
Next of Kin Son of Herbert Traverse Hicks and Eva Glee Hicks (née Fowler) of Rouleau, Saskatchewan, Canada.
HICKS HS

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington X
Serial Number HZ521
Markings AL-

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Belgium
Burial/Memorial Place Heverlee War Cemetery
Grave Reference 2. F. 3.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 181

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/155731
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 429 (Bison)
Squadron Motto Fortunae nihil (Nothing to chance)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Village Centre, Sutton on the Forest, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Stone & Metal Sun Dial
Memorial Text A memorial to all those who served at RAF East Moor and in particular 415 Sqn RCAF
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Miscellaneous Information

Harold was born on 23 March 1921 at Rouleau, Saskatchewan. His father was a Blacksmith and was born at Brockville, Ontario and his mother was born at Gananoque, Ontario. He had two brothers Lyall Herbert and Jack Travers as well as sisters Doris, Pauline and Bernice. Harold went to Rouleau school 1928-1935 (grade 8) and again 1935-1939 (grade 12). His only interest in sport seems to be Hockey. For work, he went to Craig’s in Rouleau as a clerk for five months in 1940 but then worked for his father H.T. Hicks, Blacksmith, as a mechanic until enlisting on 16 March 1942.
After training, Harold embarked from Canada for the U.K. where he arrived at 3PRC on 19 December 1942. He then went on to 7 AGS 17 February 1943, 22 OTU 9 March 1943, and 429 Squadron on 29 May 1943. Sadly, the following month on 25 June 1943, Harold lost his life.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1852/12
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1852/11

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.

Keay C W (F/S)
Meech J M (Sgt)
O'Leary L F (WO1)
Peart E B (F/S)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 24-06-1943
End Date 25-06-1943
Takeoff Station East Moor
Day/Night Raid Night (48% moon)
Operation Wuppertal. 630 aircraft, 34 losses (5.4%). An attack on the Elberfeld half of the town- the Barmen half having been devastated a month ago. PFF marking was accurate but creepback was more evident than normal. A post-war British survey suggest that 95% of the Elberfeld half was destroyed. Approximately 1800 deaths, 300 homes destroyed and 171 businesses knocked out.
Reason for Loss Lost over Belgium

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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.