Kelley, Alfred Theodore

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Alfred Theodore
Surname Kelley
Gender M
Age 22
Date of Death 08-12-1942
Next of Kin Son of Fred H. Kelley and Myrtle Thelma Kelley (née Whitehair), of Kansas City, USA. Husband of Murl Emolene Kelley (née Spellman), whom he married on 27 February 1942 at Marshfield, Missouri, USA.
KELLEY AT

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Short Stirling I
Serial Number W7635
Markings LS-V

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Denmark
Burial/Memorial Place Kirkeby Churchyard
Grave Reference Grave 277B.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 192

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/125770
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 3
Squadron 15 (XV)
Squadron Motto Aim Sure
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin United States of America

Miscellaneous Information

Alfred was born at Kansas City, USA on 24 June 1920. His father was a retired Marine Officer, born at Mountain Grove, Missouri and his mother at Trippland, Missouri. The schools he attended were Kansas City, Missouri. 1926-1927, Quanerio, Virginia 1927-1934, Springfield, Missouri 1934-1935 and West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1935- 1939. He also went to Springfield Teachers College, 1939-1940, as a Freshman. Also Alexian Brothers Hospital Nursing 1940-1941, St. Louis, Missouri where he was a male nurse. The sports he enjoyed were baseball, basketball, softball, tennis, golf etc. and his hobby was building model aircraft.
He enlisted on 5 September 1941 and after training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from Canada on 13 March 1942 arriving at 3 PRC 24 March before going on to 22 OTU on 13 July 1942, 1651 CU 30 September 1942, 15 Squadron 31 October 1942. Sadly, Alfred lost his life on 8 December 1942.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/203/48
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/203/47

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.

Adkins H C (Sgt)
Bance E (Sgt)
Blignaut J J (Sgt)
Crapp F G (Sgt)
Oliver R G (Sgt)
Skelton R (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 08-12-1942
End Date 09-12-1942
Takeoff Station Bourn
Day/Night Raid Night (1% moon)
Operation Mining in the Sweet Peas area
Reason for Loss Shot down over Lakolk Beach, Rømø, Denmark at 2205 hours by a night-fighter flown by Oblt. Hans Gref of 4./NJG 3.

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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.