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Hinchcliffe, William Edward

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) William Edward
Surname Hinchcliffe
Gender M
Age 30
Date of Death 24-08-1943
Next of Kin Son of George Ernest Hinchcliffe and Mary Hinchcliffe (née McHenny), of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
HINCHCLIFFE WE 188

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster II
Serial Number DS676
Markings OW-

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
Grave Reference 6. H. 15.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 182

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/9188
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 426 (Thunderbird)
Squadron Motto On wings of fire
Trade Pilot
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

William was born at Toronto, Ontario, on 26 September 1912. Both parents were born in England. His father, a Civic employee, was deceased by the time of William's enlistment. He had two brothers Charles Reginald and Gordon Rolph and a sister Hilda Evelyn. Two more brothers, Harold and Percival died within days of one another in July 1911. His brother Gordon was living in Hollywood. The schools he attended were Jesse Ketchum, 1919-1926, Bryon School (private), 1926-1928, Bloor College 1928-1933. He also attended Ottawa College 1931-1932 and was in a Boy’s Camp 1930-1931. His sport interest were rowing, boxing and football. William was in the Argonaut Rowing Club and was a Sergeant Major in the Queen’s Own Rifles. William was also an Athletic Director, 1932-1940. He worked for Timmins Police Force 1935-1936 and the Toronto Police Force and also as a travelling salesman for Campbell's Soup.
He enlisted on 12 March 1941 and after training embarked for the U.K. He arrived at 3 PRC on 24 January 1942, 2(P) AFU, 18 April 1942, 10 OTU 30 June 1942, 1661 CU 30 April 1943 and 426 Squadron 19 July 1943. William was to lose his life the following month on24 August 1943.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1841/14

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.

Burnett L G E (P/O)
du Boulay D C D (P/O)
Farr E G (P/O)
Gibson A J (F/O)
Lucas A (Sgt)
Shaw W L (F/L)
Williams J (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 23-08-1943
End Date 24-08-1943
Takeoff Station Linton-on-Ouse
Day/Night Raid Night (37% moon)
Operation Berlin. 727 aircraft, 56 losses (7.9%)- the greatest loss in a single raid so far in the war. Sequential marking was used to keep the main force on course. A Master Bomber approach was also used (W/C J E [Johnny] Fauquier). PFF were unable to locate the centre of Berlin using H2S and instead marked the southern suburbs. The main force arrived late and many cut a corner, making their arrival point incorrect. As might be expected for Berlin, the flak and fighter defences were formidable. Nevertheless, this was the most serious raid on Berlin so far in the war. Much of the government district was badly damaged and 20 ships were also sunk. 854 people were killed, many of whom had failed to take refuge in air raid shelters.
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night-fighter and thought to have crashed at Güsen, 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.