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Viau, Raymond Gerald

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) Raymond Gerald
Surname Viau
Gender M
Age 22
Date of Death 06-07-1944
Next of Kin Son of Albert Viau and Armancia Viau (née Leger), of Greenfield, Ontario, Canada.
VIAU RG

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax III
Serial Number LW169
Markings QB-L

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country France
Burial/Memorial Place St. Pol War Cemetry
Grave Reference Coll. grave Row C. Grave 9-12.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 257

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/19099
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 424 (Tiger)
Squadron Motto Castigandos castigamus (We chastise those who deserve to be chastised)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Village Green, Skipton on Swale, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone, inscribed Metal Plaque & Maple Tree
Memorial Text A memorial to the Canadian personnel who served at RAF Skipton on Swale during WW2, including 424 Sqn RCAF
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Miscellaneous Information

Raymond was born at Greenfield, Ontario on 26 September 1921. His father was born at St. Louis, Québec and was a Dairy Farmer, his mother shown as born at Port Louis. He had brothers Lucien, Albert, George and Roger along with sisters Georgette, Alma, Eugenie and Irene. He was at Public School S.S. No. 23, Kenyon, Ontario 1926-1936. Raymond then worked on the farm at home 1937-1939 and then on a wheat farm for three months and for another three months in an extra gang with C.N. Railroad, May-July 1940. He ended up as a Press Operator at Valley Field, Ontario but after four months was made to leave when he was discovered to be too young. His sport interests were skating, swimming, baseball and softball.
Raymond enlisted on 12 August 1941 and after training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from Canada on 27 October 1942, arriving in England at 3PRC on 28 November 1942 and then went on to 7 AGS 16 January 1943, 23 OTU 23 February 1943, then 429 Squadron on 14 May 1943.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1835/12
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1835/11

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.

Bannihr R H (F/O)
Dawson L B (P/O)
May A E (F/O)
Morrison J H (F/O)
Queen S J (F/O)
Tomlinson W H (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 06-07-1944
End Date 06-07-1944
Takeoff Station Skipton on Swale
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Mimoyecques- to attack a flying bomb site. Part of a 551 bomber daylight raid on five V-bomb sites. Four of the sites were clear and bombing was reported to be accurate but the Mimoyecques site was cloud-covered so no results are known. Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire was Master Bomber on the Mimoyecques raid and this was to be his last operation after he was ordered to rest, since he was now at the end of his fourth tour having completed 100 operational sorties. Two months later he was awarded the VC.
Reason for Loss Hit by flak and crashed south of St Pol in the Pas-de-Calais, France

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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.