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Cleal, Philip Douglas (Sergeant)

Killed in Action 1944-March-24

Birth Date: 1911-May-23 (age 32)

Born: Edmonton Alberta

Joseph Pacy Cleal & Mary Adelaide Cleal, of Lavington, British Columbia.

Home: Mabel Lake, British Columbia

Service
RCAF
Unit
78 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Nemo Non Paratus Nobody unprepared
Base
RAF Breighton
Rank
Sergeant
Marshal
Air Chief MarshalA/C/M
Air MarshalA/M
Air Vice MarshalA/V/M
Air CommodoreA/C
Group CaptainG/C
Wing CommanderW/C
Squadron LeaderS/L
Flight LieutenantF/L
Flying OfficerF/O
Pilot OfficerP/O
Warrant Officer 1st ClassWO1
Warrant Officer 2nd ClassWO2
Flight SergeantFS
SergeantSGT
CorporalCPL
Senior AircraftmanSAC
Leading AircraftmanLAC
Aircraftman 1st ClassAC1
Aircraftman 2nd ClassAC2
Position
Air Gunner
Service Numbers
R/189379

Took off from Breighton at 18:41 in Halifax Mk III (Sqn code EY-A Bomber Command) on an operation to Berlin Germany.

Flew well South of track on the return and was eventually shot down by a night fighter and crashed at les Hautes-Riviereees (Ardennes) 16 km NE of Charleville-Mezieres France.

Killed: Flight Sergeant Robert Willard McNeil RCAF R/178854 KIA Les Hautes-Rivieres Communal Cemetery Grave 3. Sergeant William George Baker RAF KIA Les Hautes-Rivieres Communal Cemetery Grave 4. Sergeant Peter John Sprague Crawford RAF KIA Les Hautes-Rivieres Communal Cemetery Grave 1. Flight Sergeant Jack Dear RAF KIA Les Hautes-Rivieres Communal Cemetery Grave 5. Flight Sergeant Henry Jackson RAF pilot KIA Les Hautes-Rivieres Communal Cemetery Grave 6. Sergeant Herbert Desmond Patchett RAF KIA Les Hautes-Rivieres Communal Cemetery Grave 7. Flight Sergeant James Smith RAF KIA Les Hautes-Rivieres Communal Cemetery Grave 2.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

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

Sergeant Philip Douglas Cleal was exhumed and reburied.

Home
Google MapMabel Lake, British Columbia
Target
Google MapBerlin Germany
First Burial
Google MapFahlhorst
Re-Burial
Google MapBerlin War Cemetery
Plot 8 Row J Grave 14

Halifax LW518

Handley Page Halifax

(RAF Photo, 1942)(Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)A Royal Air Force Handley Page Halifax Mk. II Series I (Serial No. W7676), coded TL-P, of No. 35 Squadron, RAF, based at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire in the UK, being piloted by Flight Lieutenant Reginald Lane, (later Lieutenant-General, RCAF), over the English countryside. Flt Lt Lane and his crew flew twelve operations in W7676, which failed to return from a raid on Nuremberg on the night of 28/29 August 1942, when it was being flown by Flt Sgt D. John and crew.

The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.

The Halifax has its origins in the twin-engine HP56 proposal of the late 1930s, produced in response to the British Air Ministry's Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use." The HP56 was ordered as a backup to the Avro 679, both aircraft being designed to use the underperforming Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. The Handley Page design was altered at the Ministry to a four-engine arrangement powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; the rival Avro 679 was produced as the twin-engine Avro Manchester which, while regarded as unsuccessful mainly due to the Vulture engine, was a direct predecessor of the famed Avro Lancaster. Both the Lancaster and the Halifax would emerge as capable four-engined strategic bombers, thousands of which would be built and operated by the RAF and several other services during the War.

On 25 October 1939, the Halifax performed its maiden flight, and it entered service with the RAF on 13 November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of them at night. Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster (in part due to its smaller payload) though this opinion was not shared by many of the crews that flew it, particularly for the MkIII variant. Nevertheless, production of the Halifax continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost. The Halifax was also flown in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces. Wikipedia

YouTube Halifax Heavy Bomber WWII

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Halifax Bomber

Museum National Air Force Museum of Canada

last update: 2023-12-08 20:34:11

Halifax B/A.Mk.III LW518

Failed to Return, Berlin, 25.3.44
Unit 78

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