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Hughes, Alfred Johnstone

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Personal Information

Rank S/L
Forename(s) Alfred Johnstone
Surname Hughes
Gender M
Age 25
Date of Death 27-11-1943
Next of Kin Son of Alfred Hughes and Agnes Hope Hughes (née Minnis), of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
HUGHES AJ 990

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster II
Serial Number DS679
Markings OW-R

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Runnymede Memorial
Grave Reference Panel 172.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 185

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/3990
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

Alfred was born on 23 February 1918 at Hamilton, Ontari. Both parents were born in Northern Ireland and his father worked as a Salesman. He attended Public schools between 1924 -1931 (Central Public) and then Central Collegiate 1931-1936- both in Hamilton. His sport interests were basketball, softball and lacrosse and he enjoyed hunting. He worked as a clerk at Hamilton Drugs between 1937- 1938 and at Dingwall’s Hardware Store 1938-1940 as clerk and salesman.
Alfred enlisted on 2 July 1940. On 18 January 1943 he was at 14 (0) AFU and at 23 OTU on 9 March 1943, then at 426 Squadron on 18 August 1943. Alfred sadly lost his life on 27 November 1943 from 426 Squadron

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1841/20
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1841/19

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.

Boles W H (P/O)
Buchanan G H (F/O)
McLean W J (Sgt)
Rawlings F D (P/O)
Sawyer K W (F/S)
Wilkinson F (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 26-11-1943
End Date 27-11-1943
Takeoff Station Linton-on-Ouse
Day/Night Raid Night (1% moon)
Operation Berlin. 443 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes with a 178 aircraft diversionary raid on Stuttgart. Unlike previous raids that included a diversionary element, both forces flew together over France and separated close to Frankfurt. Consequently the German controller assumed that the raid was on Frankfurt alone. As a result, the Berlin force met with few night-fighters but heavy flak fire and the scattered nature of the force by this time led to significant losses- 28 Lancasters (6.2%) and a further 14 crashed on the return leg or on return to base, leading to a total loss rate of some 9.3%. PFF target marking was 6-7 miles from the intended city centre position and as a consequence, the industrial suburb of Reinickendorf bore the brunt with 38 war related factories being destroyed and many more damaged. Berlin Zoo was also badly damaged with the result that many dangerous animals had to be shot in the streets. Approximately 700-800 deaths and total bombed out in recent raids was increased to some 417665.
Reason for Loss Lost without trace

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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.