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1944-11-19 Flight Lieutenant - Prisoner of War | |
Mustang Mk. I AG664 | 430 Sqn (RCAF) |
Take-off: 00:00:00 | Target: |
Took off in Mustang Mark I .
Crashed near Venlo
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Birth Date: 1918-April-14 (age 33)
Born: Rossduff, Saskatchewan
Son of Alexander and Florence Ashdown.
Husband of Shirley Vera Ashdown. Father of Shirley Barbara, Richard Alec and Katherine Lois. Brother of Daniel, Roy and Lorayne.
Home: Rossduff, Saskatchewan
Enlistment: Regina, Saskatchewan
Enlistment Date: 1940-05-09
Marshal | |
Air Chief Marshal | A/C/M |
Air Marshal | A/M |
Air Vice Marshal | A/V/M |
Air Commodore | A/C |
Group Captain | G/C |
Wing Commander | W/C |
Squadron Leader | S/L |
Flight Lieutenant | F/L |
Flying Officer | F/O |
Pilot Officer | P/O |
Warrant Officer 1st Class | WO1 |
Warrant Officer 2nd Class | WO2 |
Flight Sergeant | FS |
Sergeant | SGT |
Corporal | CPL |
Senior Aircraftman | SAC |
Leading Aircraftman | LAC |
Aircraftman 1st Class | AC1 |
Aircraftman 2nd Class | AC2 |
On 1952-01-10, F/L E.F. Ashdown and F/C GWM Vivyan were fatally injured during a progress test in Harvard 2588. The aircraft was totally destroyed in the crash.
On 1944-11-19 Flight Lieutenant Ashdown was captured and taken POW. Click for more information
School Historical Record – 2 Flying Training School - 1952-01-10
Training History:
1944-11-19 Flight Lieutenant - Prisoner of War | |
Mustang Mk. I AG664 | 430 Sqn (RCAF) |
Take-off: 00:00:00 | Target: |
Took off in Mustang Mark I .
Crashed near Venlo
The North American Harvard appeared in 1937, in response to a US Air Corps proposal for an advanced trainer. The first of 50 Harvard Mk. Is ordered by the Canadian Government were delivered to RCAF Sea Island, BC in July 1939. By early 1940, the Mk. II was being assembled in California with an all metal fuselage replacing the original tube and fabric structure. 1200 Mk. IIs were supplied from US sources, until Canadian built Harvards started being produced in 1941.
In August 1938, Noorduyn Aviation of Montreal farsightedly signed an agreement with North American, to build the Harvard under licence. When the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into being in December 1939, Noorduyn received its first orders and went on to produce nearly 2800 Harvard Mk. IIBs for the RCAF and the RAF, between 1940 and 1945. In Canada, Harvard Mk. IIBs were used as advanced trainers with the BCATP at fifteen Service Flying Training Schools across the nation. They helped pilots make to the transition from low powered primary trainers, like Fleet Finch or the de Havilland Tiger Moth, to high performance front line fighters such as the Spitfire.
At the end of WW II, although the RCAF retained the Harvard as a trainer, a large number of them were sold off to civilian operators. The RCAF soon regretted this, for by 1949 the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing and the RCAF urgently needed trainers again. 100 T-6J Texans were leased temporarily from the USAF and a further 270 Harvards, the Mk. IV version, were ordered from Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay. The RCAF used the Harvard Mk. IV for a further fifteen years, before finally retiring it in 1966.
A total of 20,110 Harvards were built between 1938 and 1954, 3,370 of them in Canada. Countless numbers of privately owned Harvards are still flying today.
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Harvard Mk. IV was built by Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay, Ontario in late 1951. The aircraft saw service at four RCAF flying schools across the nation until it was sold to a civilian owner in 1965. It was the third aircraft to join the Museum after Dennis Bradley, Alan Ness and John Weir donated it in 1973. Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
Wikipedia Harvard Advanced Trainer
War time use at No. 2 Service Flying Training School, Uplands, and at No. 13 SFTS and No. 14 SFTS. Category A damage on 10 January 1952 while serving with No. 2 Flying School at RCAF Station Gimli, Manitoba. Flight Lieutenant E.F. Ashdown and Flying Officer G.W. Vivyan killed.
1940-10-05 Taken on Strength 2019-08-20
1941-February-10 Accident: 2 Service Flying Training School Loc: Dorval Quebec Names: Lefurgey
1942-May-23 Accident: 2 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Mackenzie | Tribble
1943-March-08 Accident: 2 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Bowers | Southward
1952-01-22 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20