Wilson, Douglas Warren

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Douglas Warren
Surname Wilson
Gender M
Age 23
Date of Death 24-03-1940
Next of Kin Son of Herbert William and Ethel Alice Wilson, of Coventry.
WILSON DW 477

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington IA
Serial Number P2515
Markings LF-H

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Becklingen War Cemetery
Grave Reference 27. J. 10.
Epitaph HE DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 266

Enlistment Information

Service Number 566477
Service Royal Air Force
Group 3
Squadron 37
Squadron Motto Wise without eyes
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin United Kingdom

Miscellaneous Information

He was born on 13 August 1916 at Biggleswade and resided at 70 Biggin Hall Crescent. Douglas attended Bablake School from 1928 to 1933 and joined the RAF in August 1933, directly from school, as an aircraft apprentice. Named on the Bablake School Roll of Honour.
4 April 1940 headline; ‘Coventry Man Gets News of Airman Son's Death from German Radio’. Identity of the Coventry pilot who was named over the Nazi radio as having died in an air crash in Germany has been established as a result of 'the Midland Daily Telegraph' report of the broadcast published last night. He is Sergeant Pilot Douglas Warren Wilson, 23 years old son of Mr. H. W. Wilson of 70, Biggin Hill Crescent, Coventry. The news of the young pilot came from Germany on Tuesday night, when five British airman spoke to their relatives on the radio and one of them Sergeant Kenneth Say of Dumfries, Scotland said “I would like to extend my sympathy to the parents of Douglas Wilson of Coventry, the second pilot who died in the crash." Enquiries made through all available sources failed to trace Wilsons identity yesterday, but today friends of the pilot, after seeing the report communicated with us and Mr. Wilson his father told 'The Midland Daily Telegraph' The first news of his son’s death was the message given by Sergeant Say the observer over the German radio. This has not been officially confirmed. Broke a squadron record. Mr. Wilson expressed his deep appreciation of the kind inquiries that has been made by sympathetic friends and acquaintances during the period of suspense since his son was reported missing. Sergeant Pilot Wilson enlisted in the RAF as an apprentice wireless operator mechanic at Cranwell on leaving Bablake School. Whilst undergoing his training he represented Cranwell in the RAF senior fencing championship team, which succeeded in reaching the final. He was also runner up in the individual championship, and in the succeeding year was a member of the winning championship team. Although recommended for a cadetship, he was unsuccessful and passed out as an aircraftman 1st class. After a period with a flight bomber squadron and a special course, he was posted overseas and enduring twelve months service at Khartoum succeeded in breaking the squadron record for bomb aiming. He returned to England as a corporal in September 1938 and subsequently qualified as a pilot and a captain of aircraft for day and night flying with a distinguished pass. Almost immediately afterwards Sergeant Pilot Wilson was posted to an operational squadron with which he was still serving when his machine failed to return.

Casualty Pack Number Find Out More

AIR 81/1934 (P351437/40 Part A)

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/388/10
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/388/9

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.

Templeman P F (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 23-03-1940
End Date 24-03-1940
Takeoff Station Feltwell
Day/Night Raid Night (100% moon)
Operation Leaflet dropping northern Germany
Reason for Loss Crashed in NW Germany

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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.