Park, William Arnold Died

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) William Arnold
Surname Park
Gender M
Age 32
Date of Death 27-01-1944
Next of Kin Son of Andrew Park and Bella Ann Park (née Purdon), of Parry Sound District, Hemsworth, Ontario, Canada.
PARK WA

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster II
Serial Number LL721
Markings OW-U

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
Grave Reference 9. J. 28.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 222
PARK WA

Location

Row -
Panel 222
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 2
Panel Number 222

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/85817
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 426 (Thunderbird)
Squadron Motto On wings of fire
Trade Air Gunner
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

William was born on 26 October 1911 at Parry Sound District, Hemsworth, Ontario. His father Andrew (who died in 1929), was born at Renfrew County, Ontario and had worked as a farmer. His mother Isabel (Bella) was also deceased (1918). He had three brothers John, Herman and Gordon. He also had a sister, Reta who was shown as his next-of-kin. She lived at Golden Valley, Ontario. The schools he attended were Powassan public 1918-1927 followed by Powassan High school 1927-1928 (Ontario). The only sport he occasionally took part in was softball. He worked for a few months as a mechanic in 1936 for a William Burns, and then as a clerk at Nippissing Flour and Feed store for a few months. After that he became a truck driver for M.H. Cameron in Golden Valley for three years until enlisting on 9 October 1941.
After training William was posted to the U.K. and embarked from Canada on 28 October 1942, arriving at 3PRC on 6 November. He was then at 7 AGS 16 January 1943, 22 OTU 23 February 1943, 426 Sqn 1 May 1943, 1679 CU. 13 October 1943 and 426 Squadron on 26 October 1943. Sadly William was then to lose his life on 27 January 1944.

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1842/2
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1842/2

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
Carlson A (P/O) Died
Lawson W (Sgt) Died
MacDonald M N (P/O) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 27-01-1944
End Date 28-01-1944
Takeoff Station Linton-on-Ouse
Day/Night Raid Night (8% moon)
Operation Berlin. 530 aircraft, 33 losses- all Lancasters (6.4%). The German fighters were particularly early joining this stream on this raid- many joining some 75 miles off the Dutch coast The diversionary raids were somewhat successful in luring the fighters away, particularly the Heligoland mining raid. As had now become the norm, Berlin was cloud-covered and sky-marking had to be used, Local reports stated that bombing was spread over a wide area, including smaller towns and village in the outskirts. 20000 people were bombed out and 50 industrial premises hit, including several that were important to war production. 56 people were killed
Reason for Aircraft Loss Attacked three times by a night-fighter over the target and shot down. Abandoned on fire and out of control, crashing at Karcha, near Rausslitz, Germany. P/O MacDonald and P/O Park were able to escape the stricken aircraft but their parachutes failed to open and they were killed. Three survivors became prisoners of war.
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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.