Crosson, Victor Gilbert
Killed in Flying Accident 1945-07-13
Birth Date: 1923-November-11
Born:
David & Lillian Crosson.
Home: Thessalon, Ontario
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
11 (BR) Sqn- Squadron
Base
RCAF Stn. Patricia Bay BC
Rank
Warrant Officer 1
Position
Warrant Officer 1
Service Numbers
R/151140
Home
Thessalon, Ontario
First Burial
Isolated grave at the crash site
Took off from Patricia Bay on a cross country training flight landing at RCAF Comox then on to RCAF Tofino where seven passengers including three women from the RCAF Women's Division (RCAF-WD) boarded to fly back to Patricia Bay.
Due to bad weather, the aircraft crashed into the forest covered side of a mountain seven miles east-south-east of Bamfield, near the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. Everyone aboard was killed on impact.
Killed:Flying Officer William Edward Davies, RCAF Flying Officer Robert Joseph Martello RCAF J/26660 KIFAFlying Officer Nicholas Maxwell Popovich RCAF J/47933 KIFAFlight Sergeant Donald William Hope, RCAF R/59081 KIFAFlying Officer Harry Alexander Lowe RCAF J/47850 KIFAWarrant Officer 1 Victor Gilbert Crosson ECAF R/151140 KIFAWarrant Officer 2 Joseph Bertrand Raymond Presse RCAF R/90751 KIFAPassenger Corp. William Hrysko, RCAF R/106466 KIFAPassenger Corp. Norman Marshall Johnson RCAF R/130808 KIFA Passenger Leading Aircraftman Raymond Valentine Kiteley, RCAF R/255935 KIFAPassenger Leading Aircraftman Lloyd Henry Tull RCAF R/261754 KIFAPassenger Sergeant Pamela Gladys Bennett RCAF-WD W/316180 KIFA Passenger Corp. Nora Marshall Johnson, RCAF-WD W/307410 KIFA Passenger LAW Margaret Mann RCAF-WD W/302037 KIFA
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.comThis incident involved multiple aircraft:
- Liberator B-24L / GR Mk. VIII Serial: 11121
All the above aircraft in the above list are referenced in this report.
Liberator 11121
Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7
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
Liberator bomber
Wikipedia Liberator bomber 
Harold A Skaarup Web Page 11 (BR) Sqn ()
Liberator 11121
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