New Memorial Listings

New memorial data for individuals, crew, stations, squadrons and groups have been added.

View memorials

Parsley, William Alfred

Request an edit Submit a photo

Personal Information

Rank WO2
Forename(s) William Alfred
Surname Parsley
Gender M
Age 30
Date of Death 21-01-1944
Next of Kin Son of William Herbert Parsley and Rose Parsley (née Dodd), of Montreal, Province of Québec , Canada.
PARSLEY WA

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster III
Serial Number JB299
Markings OF-W

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
Grave Reference 6. L. 9.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 223

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/135211
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 8
Squadron 97 (Straits Settlements)
Squadron Motto Achieve your aim
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Church of the Holy Spirit, RAF Coningsby, Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stained Glass Window
Memorial Text A stained glass window remembering 97 Sqn in the Church of the Holy Spirit, RAF Coningsby
View On Google Maps View On what3words
Location Roadside location (off E6), Fættenfjord, near Åsenfjord, Trøndelag Fylke
Country Norway
Memorial Type Inscribed memorial stone atopped with inert aerial sea mine and Tirpitz anchor chain link
Memorial Text For Frihet Til minne om Allierte Flymannskaper fra RAF drept under angrep pa det tyske slagskipet Tirpitz i Fættenfjord 1942
Translation "For freedom In memory of the Allied Aircrews from the RAF who died in attacks on the German Battleship Tirpitz in the Fættenfjord 1942 "
View On Google Maps View On what3words

Miscellaneous Information

William was born on 16 March 1913 at Montreal, Québec. His father, who was deceased by the time of William's enlistment, was born at Franktown, Ontario and his mother was born at Brockville. His mother was also deceased. He had two brothers: Albert Thomas and another Hubert, died in infancy. There were also three sisters, Eva, Ruth and the third, Alice who died in 1938. William attended King’s School, Westmount, 1920-1927, followed by Westmount High 1927 -1929. William worked at Canadian General Electricity 1929-1932 as a clerk and then held a variety of positions until 1936 when he joined C.N.R. also as a clerk, until enlisting on 23 October 1941.
After training he was posted to the U.K. and embarked from Canada on 25 September 1942 arriving at 3 PRC on 9 October 1942. He then continued to 16 OTU 27 October, 1661 CU. 16 May 1943, 61 Sqn 25 June 1943, and finally 97 Squadron on 10 September 1943. William sadly lost his life on 21 January 1944.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Click here to view

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/768/2
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/768/1

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.

Devine E J (Sgt)
Dudley R (F/S)
Marsh P A (F/S)
Martin F (F/S)
Roberts F J (F/L)
Young G (F/S)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 21-01-1944
End Date 22-01-1944
Takeoff Station Bourn
Day/Night Raid Night (18% moon)
Operation Magdeburg- the first major raid on this target. 648 aircraft, 57 losses (8.8%). The Halifax loss rate was especially high at 15.6%. The German controller tracked the bomber stream across the North Sea and many night-fighters were already in the stream before it reached the German coast (using the newly developed Tame Boar methodology). The controller was slow in identifying Magdeburg as the target but this was of little consequence as the fighters were able to stay in the stream for the duration of the approach. Despite the high loss rate, this was not a successful attack. Stronger tail winds than anticipated placed some of the stream over the target before Zero Hour and dropped their bomb load anyway, making the target marking much less effective. German decoy markers exacerbated the situation. No local report is available but it is thought that most of the bombs fell outside of the city.
Reason for Loss Badly shot about by a night-fighter but pressed on with the attack. Petrol ran low on the return leg, possibly as a result of a fuel leak and abandoned north of Cromer into very rough seas. F/O Marston and Sgt McMillan reaches the dinghy but despite their best efforts (for which they were received gallantry awards) they were unable to reach the other crew members, despite being able to see them near the wreckage

Honour This Person

Since 1945 the brave men and women who gave their lives whilst in the service of Bomber Command, to protect our country have been largely ignored and forgotten by successive governments.

It is now time to make that right.

Honour this person now

Events At IBCC

We have an exciting events programme here at IBCC! From Concerts with stars to our annual Salute to the 40s weekend, from Dinner dances to Family Fun Days..

Something for all the family!

View Upcoming Events
 
 
 
 

Please Wait

Close

Request An Edit

I warrant that the information i’m supplying is accurate to the best of my knowledge and I have the rights to provide this information.

Submit a Photo

I warrant that I own the copyright or have the correct commercial print licences in place for the images and or artwork I’m uploading.

Once submitted, your photo will be submitted for verification and will be shown on the database record shortly.

Disclaimer I acknowledge that I remain the copyright holder of the original document(s). I hereby grant copyright in the digital version to the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) and I consent to IBCC making digital copies freely available online under a Creative Commons non-commercial licence. IBCC may also use, reproduce or incorporate it into other works in any media, or licence its use for purposes of ensuring the sustainability of its Digital Archive and Losses Database. I understand that digital copies will be owned and controlled by IBCC, and I irrevocably agree to IBCC using and publishing digital copies however it sees fit, but always in line with its responsibilities to preserve and protect such ephemera.

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.