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Withers, Joseph Alan William

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) Joseph Alan William
Surname Withers
Gender M
Age 26
Date of Death 06-12-1942
Next of Kin Son of Roy Allan Withers and Edith Elizabeth Withers (née Keenan), of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Husband of June Isabelle Best (marriage on 18 February 1942 in Toronto).
WITHERS JAW

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Lockheed Ventura II
Serial Number AJ196
Markings EG-C

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Netherlands
Burial/Memorial Place Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery
Grave Reference 3. B. 12.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 268

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/10182
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 2
Squadron 487 (New Zealand)
Squadron Motto Ki te mutunga (Maori - Through to the end)
Trade Navigator
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Withers Island, Manitoba; 15km NW of Kississing Lake
Country Canada
Memorial Type Island
Memorial Text
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Miscellaneous Information

Joseph was born on 1 February 1916 at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Both parents were born in Ireland and his father was an insurance salesman. The schools he attended were in Winnipeg: Lord Roberts 1925-1930 (Commercial), Daniel McIntyre 1930-1932 (Commercial), St. John’s College 1932-1933 (Arts), Dominion Business College 1934-1934 (Commercial). He attained Grade XII, High School Entrance and Senior Matric. He spent six months in the Winnipeg Grenadiers. For sport he played hockey, baseball, and skating and his hobby was collecting souvenirs. During 1934 Joseph worked as a clerk in a cigar store. As a salesman at Gray’s Wholesale 1935-1937, then selling insurance 1939. He also worked at McFadden Publications, Winnipeg, as a Sales distributer/Department manager from 1939 until enlistment.
He enlisted on 6 February 1941. After initial training, Joseph embarked from Canada on 5 March 1942 and arrived at 3PRC on 17 March. He was at 10 (0) AFU on 19 May 1942, 22 OTU 9 June 1942, and 487 Squadron on 20 August 1942. Joseph sadly lost his life on 6 December 1942.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1935/2

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.

King F E (F/S)
Richings T M (Sgt)
Seavill F C (W/C)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 06-12-1942
End Date 06-12-1942
Takeoff Station Feltwell
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Operation Oyster. Eindhoven- Philips radio and valve factory (by day). 93 aircraft, 17 losses (18.2%), although the loss rate for the underpowered Venturas was 19% even higher. The 8th Air Force operated a diversionary raid to Lille using Spitfires as escort. A low level raid in clear conditions led to very accurate bombing and the factory was extensively damaged. The raid was deliberately planned for a Sunday when few employees would have been on site. Full production took 6 months to achieve due to the level of damage. Of the aircraft that successfully returned an extraordinarily high number (23) sustained bird strike damage!
Reason for Loss Hit by flak and crashed on Woensdrecht airfield, SSE of Bergen op Zoom

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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.