Hopper, Leo James Died

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) Leo James
Surname Hopper
Gender M
Age 20
Date of Death 04-11-1944
Next of Kin Son of Gordon Atwood Hopper and Laura May Hopper (née Brown), of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Husband of Dorothy Mae Hopper (née Watts), whom he married at Calgary on 21 December 1943.
HOPPER LJ

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax VII
Serial Number NP800
Markings OW-S

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Belgium
Burial/Memorial Place Hotton War Cemetery
Grave Reference VIII. A. 8.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 184
HOPPER LJ

Location

Row -
Panel 184
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 2
Panel Number 184

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/39026
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 426 (Thunderbird)
Squadron Motto On wings of fire
Trade Wireless Operator
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
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
Location Allerton Park Castle, Allerton, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text Memorial Garden dedicated to the 4272 personnel of 6 (RCAF) Gp based at Allerton Castle who gave the ultimate sacrifice during WWII to preserve our freedom
Location Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Propeller Unit & Inscribed Marble Tablets
Memorial Text Dedicated to the men & women of 6 (RCAF) Gp Bomber Command and to the 9980 Canadians lost serving in Bomber Command.

Miscellaneous Information

Two of the surviving crew became PoW and the other two evaded capture by remaining in the crash area until the Allies arrived.
Leo was born on 29 June 1924 at Calgary, Alberta. His father was born at Salisbury, New Brunswick and worked as a Train Man and his mother was born at Coverdale, New Brunswick. He had a brother, Roy Brown Hopper and sister Agnes Alberta Hopper. Another sibling, Ray Edward Hopper, had sadly died on 4 August 1919. The schools he attended were Colonel Walker, Calgary 1930-1939 and Crescent Heights, High 1939-1942. As Leo was still attending school he just undertook odd jobs during the summer. His sport interests were softball, basketball, fishing and swimming.
After finishing school he enlisted on 12 August 1942 and after training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from New York on 21 January 1944 then continued to 3 PRC on 31 January 1944. He was then at 4(O) AFU on 22 February 1944, 24 OTU on 4 April 1944, 61 Base 26 June 1944, and 426 Squadron on 8 August 1944. Sadly Leo was to lose his life on 6 November 1944.

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1842/22
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1842/22

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
Clements J E (F/O) Died
Newberry R F (P/O) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 04-11-1944
End Date 05-11-1944
Takeoff Station Linton-on-Ouse
Day/Night Raid Night (77% moon)
Operation Bochum. 749 aircraft, 28 losses (3.7%), mainly due to night-fighters. 346 Free French Squadron lost 5 out of its 16 Halifaxes. A very successful attack with severe damage to the centre of Bochum. More than 4000 buildings were destroyed, including the steel works. 994 people were killed. This was the last major raid on Bochum
Reason for Aircraft Loss Set on fire by cannon fire from a night-fighter. Crashed into a field near Zülpich, SE of Düren, 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.