Tidy, Charles Harrison Died

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) Charles Harrison
Surname Tidy
Gender M
Age 20
Date of Death 14-03-1943
Next of Kin Son of Charles Percy Tidy and Mary Alice Tidy (née Ingleson), of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
TIDY CH

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington III
Serial Number BK296
Markings PT-

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Runnymede Memorial
Grave Reference Panel 186.

IBCC Memorial Information

Map
Directions to panel 254
TIDY CH

Location

Row -
Panel 254
Column -
Line -

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

Phase 2
Panel Number 254

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/108882
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 420 (Snowy Owl)
Squadron Motto Pugnamus finitum (We fight to a finish)
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Outside former St. Georges Hotel, Teesside Airport, County Durham
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablet on Memorial Stone
Memorial Text In memory of those who served at RAF Croft, 1941-1945 including 420 Sqn RCAF
Location Village Green, Tholthorpe, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stone Memorial, inscribed Metal Plaque and Maple Tree
Memorial Text A memorial, in English & French, to those Canadians who served at RAF Tholthorpe during WW2, including 420 (RCAF) Sqn
Location Former Control Tower, Tholthorpe Airfield, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text A memorial to those Canadians who served at RAF Tholthorpe during WW2, including 420 Sqn
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

Charles was born at Toronto on 30 June 1922. His parents were both born in Toronto and his father was a Salesman. He had one brother, Frank William. The schools Charles attended were Whitney school 1930-1936 and Jarvis Collegiate Institute 1936-1940 (Jr. Matric). Charles joined in several of the School sporting activities. Charles worked as a Stockroom clerk. During the Christmas break 1939, working for Simpson’s, Toronto, and then for Lever Brothers, 1940 until enlisting.
He enlisted on 18 June 1941 and after training embarked for the U.K. where he arrived at 3PRC on 19 August 1942. He went on to 3(P) AFU on 29 August 1942, 22 OTU 27 October 1942 and 420 Squadron 25 February 1943. Sadly, Charles lost his life shortly after on the 14 March.

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1825/26
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1825/26

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
Corbett J A (F/S) Died
Hall G R D (F/S) Died
MacFarlane J D (F/O) Died
Reddy H (Sgt) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 13-03-1943
End Date 14-03-1943
Takeoff Station Middleton St. George
Day/Night Raid Night (52% moon)
Operation Mining
Reason for Aircraft Loss Claimed to have been shot down by a night-fighter flown by Oblt. Paul Zorner of 2./NJG3 over the sea, 8km North of Norderney (Jaguar) from an altitude of 3,000m at 0351 hrs.
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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.