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Morro, Frank Peter

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Frank Peter
Surname Morro
Gender M
Age 29
Date of Death 04-12-1943
Next of Kin Son of John Ciro Morro and Eva Mae Morro (née Troop), of Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada.
MORRO FP

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax II
Serial Number JD374
Markings AL-M

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Sage War Cemetery
Grave Reference 14. A. 2.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 215

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/149327
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 429 (Bison)
Squadron Motto Fortunae nihil (Nothing to chance)
Trade Air Bomber
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Roman Rd, Leeming, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Brass plaque set into a stone plinth into which is carved with the Canadian maple leaf and the Yorkshire rose.
Memorial Text This memorial is dedicated to those men and women who served at RAF Leeming during World War II, including those from the Royal Canadian Air Force Squadrons, whose members came from all parts of the Commonwealth from 1942 to 1945; 405 Vancouver, 408 Goose
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Location Opposite old Main Guardroom, RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stone Memorial & Metal Plaques
Memorial Text In commemoration of those men and women of many nations who served at RAF Leeming during the second world war.
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Miscellaneous Information

Frank was born 17 September 1914 at Cranbrook, British Columbia. His father was a Section Foreman for C.P.Railway and was born in Italy, and his mother was born in England. He had two sisters, Marguerite Mary, who was married, and Pauline Rose. The schools he attended were Cranbrook Public 1921-1929, Cranbrook High 1929-1933 and Vancouver Technical 1933-1934. For work he carried out odd jobs until 1935 and then worked at Hanson Garage, Cranbrook, as a mechanic and later as a stockman.
Frank enlisted on 29 January 1942 at Calgary, and after training he was listed to the U.K. He embarked from Canada on 26 January 1943 arriving at 3PRC on 5 February 1943 then continued to 23 OTU on 23 March 1943, and 429 Squadron on 27 June 1943. Sadly Frank then lost his life from 429 Squadron on 4 December 1943

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1852/24
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1852/23

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.

Cabana J L E (F/O)
Kelso S R (P/O)
Schade H M (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 03-12-1943
End Date 04-12-1943
Takeoff Station Leeming
Day/Night Raid Night (45% moon)
Operation Leipzig. 527 aircraft. By way of a diversion, the main force took a direct route toward Berlin and then turned off for Leipzig, by which time German fighters were already amongst them and scoring successes. Fortunately many were called back to Berlin once the Mosquito diversionary raid began. as a result only three bombers were thought to have been Lost in the target area. Some aircraft flew off course and ended up in the heavily defended Frankfurt area and most of the losses sustained this night were amongst them. PFF marking was accurate and the resultant bombing was effective. The former World Fair exhibition buildings were hit, some of which had been converted into a Junkers aircraft factory.
Reason for Loss The loss card indicates Schade as the crash site, although no such place has been identified. Instead, this appears to be an incorrect duplicate of the Navigator's surname

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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.