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Bennett, Pamela Gladys (Sergeant)

Killed in Flying Accident 1945-July-13

Birth Date: 1915-May-16 (age 30)

Born: Darjeeling, India

Daughter of Henry Cecil and Gladys Annie Bennett. A commemorative cairn was constructed and erected by the personnel of Canadian Forces Base Comox at the site of the July 13, 1945 crash of a Royal Can

Home: Victoria, British Columbia

Enlistment: Vancouver, British Columbia

Enlistment Date: 1943-11-22

Service
RCAFWD
Unit
11 Sqn- Squadron
Base
Patricia Bay, British Columbia, Canada
Rank
Sergeant
Position
dental assistant
Service Numbers
W/316180

11 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron, Patricia Bay, British Columbia. Liberator aircraft crashed. Sergeant Bennett is buried in an isolated grave on the south-west shore of Barkley Sound, fifteen miles south-east of Bamfield, British Columbia.

Canada Primary Source Ancestry.ca – Service File of War Dead 1939-47

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find-A-Grave.com Find-A-Grave.com

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Crew on Liberator B-24L / GR Mk. VIII 11121

Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7

(DND Photos via James Craik) (Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)
Consolidated Liberator G.R. Mk. VIII, RCAF (Serial No. 11130) ex-USAAF Consolidated (Vultee) B-24L Liberator USAAF (44-50154)
ex-RAF (Serial No. 5009), ex-Indian Air Force (Serial No. HE773).
Currently preserved in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Ottawa Ontario.

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber flown by the RCAF during the Second Word War. It was designed with a shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing which gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling compared with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Of the roughly 18,500 B-24s built in the USA during the war, 148 were flown by the RCAF on long range anti-submarine patrols, with the B-24 serving an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The RCAF also flew a few B-24s post war as transports.

Roughly half of all (RAF) Liberator crews in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre were Canadian by the end of the war. John Muir of Vancouver flew the longest mission of the war: 24hrs, 10mins from Ceylon to Burma and back. (Kyle Hood) Harold Skaarup web page


YouTube Liberator bomber

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Liberator bomber

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

CASPIR Aircraft Groups:
RCAF On Strength (148), RCAF 400 Squadron (19), Canadian Aircraft Losses (145), Canadian Ferried (1)
last update: 2021-09-18 19:06:22

Liberator B-24L / GR Mk. VIII 11121

Ex USAAF B-24L-1-FO, their serial 44-49131. To RAF in March 1945, their serial KL519. Like most Ford built Liberators, unpopular with crews because of many small failures. First used by No. 11 (BR) Squadron at RCAF Station Dartmouth, NS from 4 April 1945. First Mk. VIII with this unit. Coded "X". Redesignated GR Mk. VIII on 24 May 1945. To Western Air Command with this unit on 26 June 1945, to RCAF Station Patricia Bay, BC. Crashed on 13 June 1945. Flew into mountain at 2800 foot level in the Somerset Range, 7 miles east-south-east Bamfield, BC while on cross country training flight, after picking up 7 sight-seers at Tofino. No survivors, the 14 killed included Corporal Nora Johnson and her younger brother Corporal Norman M. Johnson. Wreckage not found until 17 July 1945. All bodies buried at crash site. Ownership to No. 3 Repair Depot on 23 July 1945, for write off.
1945-03-26 Taken on Strength Eastern Air Command 2019-08-20
1945-July-13 Accident: 11 Squadron Loc: Not Known Names: Bennett | Crosson | Davies | Hope | Hrysko | Johnston | Johnston | Kiteley | Lowe | Mann | Martello | Popovich | Presse | Tull
1945-08-20 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20

11 Sqn- Squadron

Both WW1 and WW2 exapnded the roles of women. Women also continued in traditional roles, those roles were more highly valued.

  1. These videos describe the exapnding role for women in both wars, as well as expand on the tradional roles in war time.

    YouTube Women at War World War 1 (York University 6:44)

    YouTube World War II Women (3:22)

  2. In 1941-1942 the Women's Division was official added to the RCAF. It was mostly a measure to free up man for combat. However many women had very distinguished service records.

    Museum RCAF Women's Division from Juno Beach Centre

    Wkikpedia RCAF Women's Division

    YouTube RCAF Women's Division in Britain (1:43)

    Museum Olive E. Creasor Collection

  3. Web Image
    Elsie MacGill, first women Aerospace Engineer, was also a comic book hero.
    Elsie MacGill, "Queen of the Hurricanes".

    YouTube Queen of the Hurricanes (1:00)

    YouTube Elsie MacGill, Queen of the Hurricanes (5:29)

    Canada Source Roberta Bondar on Elsie MacGill

    Canada Source Elsie MacGill Comic Book story from WW2

  4. Special Military Roles of Women in Canada

    YouTube Canadian Women Codebreakers (11:43)

    YouTube Canadian Women in Air Transport Auxiliary (3:33)

  5. Women Pilots in Canada

    Today woman pilots in Canada are too numerous to mention, but that has not always been the case. These are some of women who pioneered the change in women's roles in flying.

    General Canadian Woman Pilots Through the Years

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