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Johnson, Donald Woodrow

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Personal Information

Rank F/L
Forename(s) Donald Woodrow
Surname Johnson
Gender M
Age 26
Date of Death 26-07-1944
Next of Kin Son of Oscar Johnson and Gertrude Mary Johnson (née Abraham), of Flandreau, South Dakota, USA. Husband of Margaret Jean Johnson (née Crawford), at Sibley, Iowa 14 October 1940. She was born at Cavour, South Dakota.
JOHNSON DW 913

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax VII
Serial Number NP688
Markings QO-X

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country France
Burial/Memorial Place Breteniere Churchyard
Grave Reference Coll. grave 1.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 189

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/8913
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 432 (Leaside)
Squadron Motto Saeviter ad lucem (Ferociously towards the light)
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin United States of America

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

Donald was born at Flandreau, South Dakota, USA on 30 December 1917. His father (died 1923) was born in Iowa and had worked as an electrician and his mother was born in Minnesota. His stepfather was Forrest H. Partch of South Dakota. He had a sister Arlene. He spent three years in the US army, mostly in the Phillipines, had a private flying licence and his own aircraft. Donald attended Flandreau Public School 1923-1931 (Grammar school) and then Flandreau High School 1931-1935, followed by South Dakota State College, 1939-1940 (Engineering). His sport interests were Badminton, swimming and table tennis amongst others and his hobbies, reading, the radio, photography and model aircraft. During 1935-1936 he worked for both Neil Maxwell, a garage owner and then John Russel in Flandreau, the manager of a local power company, undertaking general duties at both.
He enlisted on 15 March 1941, whilst the US was still neutral, although no Oath of Allegiance to the Crown was taken. After training he embarked from Canada on 13 September 1943 arriving in the U.K. at 3 PRC on 20 September 1943. He went on to 15 (P) AFU 2 November 1943, 82 OTU 29 February 1944, 61 Base 29 May 1944 and 432 Squadron 7 July 1944. Sadly Donald lost his life a few weeks later on 26 July 1944.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1860/30
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1860/29

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.

Crawford F D (Sgt)
Giles J R (P/O)
Martin G B (P/O)
Moss K L (F/O)
Wittmack F (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 25-07-1944
End Date 26-07-1944
Takeoff Station East Moor
Day/Night Raid Night (28% moon)
Operation Stuttgart. 550 aircraft in the second of three large raids in a five-night window.12 aircraft lost (2.2%).
Reason for Loss Crashed at Breteniere, SE of Dijon, France

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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.