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Betbeder, Basil Gaston Lancelot Died

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Basil Gaston Lancelot
Surname Betbeder
Gender M
Age 21
Date of Death 18-12-1937
BETBEDER BGL

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Heyford III
Serial Number K5183
Markings 102-W

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place St. Bartholomhew's Churchyard. Horley, West Sussex

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase Pre-War
Panel Number PRE (not yet erected on site)

Enlistment Information

Service Royal Air Force
Squadron 102 (Ceylon)
Squadron Motto Tenate et perficite (Attempt and achieve)
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin United Kingdom

Other Memorials

Location St. Catherine's Church Barmby Moor, East Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Roll of Honour in wall mounted wooden case, Sqn Badge above
Memorial Text 102 (Ceylon) Sqn Roll of Honour and Sqn badge
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Location Pocklington Gliding Club, Pocklington Airfield, Easy Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stylised Memorial with inscribed metal plaque
Memorial Text Memorial to 102 (Ceylon) Sqn RAF and 405 (Vancouver) Sqn RCAF which served at RAF Pocklington during WW2
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Miscellaneous Information

Died two days later of his injuries.

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
Bunting T A (P/O) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 16-12-1937
End Date 16-12-1937
Takeoff Station Honington
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Training
Reason for Aircraft Loss Aircraft crashed on landing at RAF Honington, Suffolk. Two crew injured, one further uninjured. An inquest found that the pilot had misjudged his height and had not levelled out early enough and as a result struck the ground with great force. One of the survivors Pilot-Officer Lawrence MacFarlane gave the following account to the coroner: "It was very dark at the time and difficult to see the ground. I was standing up in the back. All of a sudden the ground came up at terrific speed. I braced myself for the impact. It was terrific. At the same time my jaw struck the gun-ring, which knocked me out for the moment. The next thing I knew was that the machine was going over on to its back. I realised we had crashed. I fought my way out of the wreckage and rushed to the nose of the machine to extricate my friends". Pilot-Officer MacFarlane and Aircraftsman (First Class) Ernest Marrows wore slightly injured, while a fifth member of the crew, Aircraftsman (First Class) C. A. F. Kettle escaped unhurt. Pilot-Officer O. G. Horrigan, who was orderly officer at the time, described how he was standing outside the watch-house when he heard the plane approaching. The pilot gave the appropriate signal asking for permission to land, and then took up a proper position to do so. “The next thing I saw was the plane coming in to land with the engines not quite throttled back,” he went on, “and it soon became obvious that the aircraft was going to under-shoot. I expected the pilot to open out his engines in order to make more ground before landing, instead of which the aircraft maintained its angle of flight and flew straight into the ground about 100 yards before reaching the flare-path.” Asked the reason for the under-shoot, the witness said it was probable that after flying for many hours the pilot had not allowed himself sufficient time in the lower altitude to enable him to adjust his judgment for landing. The fact that he did not circle the aerodrome completely would tend to make it more difficult for him to judge the distance. Pilot-Sergt. W. C. McArthur, who was on duty as aerodrome control officer when the 'plane approached, said everything appeared to be all right until the bomber neared the ground, when there was no apparent attempt by the pilot to hold off. The machine struck the ground with terrific force and then turned straight over on its back. (précised from Bury Free Press - Saturday 25 December 1937)

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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.