Son of Wesley Herbert and Emma Hartley, of Edmonton, Alberta.
Husband of Billie Hartley.
Home: Edmonton, Alberta
Service RCAF
Unit 51 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF) Swift And Sure
Base Snaith
Rank
Flying Officer
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
Position Bomb Aimer
Service Numbers J/26313
Halifax B.Mk.III LV880
Bombing Tergnier France 1944-April-10 to 1944-April-11
51 (B) Sqn (RAF) Snaith
aircraft LV880 missing during night operations against Tergnier, France.
Additional Crew:
RAAF
Pilot Officer Horace Mervyn Hall - KIA
Flight Sergeant Mervyn James Fairclough - PoW
Flying Officer Frederick Godfrey Kirkwood - Evader
Warrant Officer John Bruce Osborn - KIA
RAF
Sergeant Gordon Joseph William Peck - KIA
Sergeant Patrick William Hegarty - PoW
The aircraft was attacked by a night fighter and the port wing set on fire. The Pilot attempted to blow out the fire by diving steeply but this was unsuccessful and moments after the order was given for the crew to put on chutes. The aircraft then exploded and crashed at Davenscourt (Sornme), 7 krn NNE of Montdidier.
Four of the crew were killed and Flight Sergeant Fairclough and Sergeant Hegarty were PoWs whilst Flying Officer Kirkwood evaded capture.
Those killed are buried in the Davenscourt Communal Cemetery.
Flight Sergeant Fairclough later reported: "We were attacked by a night fighter from below. The port wing was set on fire and the Captain tried to put it out by diving the aircraft. He also ordered put on chutes. I went forward to see if the abandon order had been given as I couldn't make contact. I was thrown to the floor and couldn't get up, but finally blown out when the aircraft exploded. Later learnt that the abandon order had been given. Captured a few months late by the Grestapo"
Source: AWM 237 (65) NAA A705, 166/17/526 Micro Film 463 0A_FH
Commonwealth War Graves Records, W R Chorley, RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Page 168 Volume 1944.
(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
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