Nicholson, Kenneth Elgin

Killed in Flying Accident 1943-01-06

Birth Date: 1916-July-03

Born:

Son of Margaret A. Beatty, of Vancouver; husband of Margaret Louise Nicholson, of Vancouver.

Home: Vancouver, British Columbia

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

4 BGS- Bombing & Gunnery School

Base

Fingal, Ontario, Canada

Rank

Corporal

Position

Corporal

Service Numbers

R/74648

Home

Vancouver, British Columbia

First Burial

Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Killed in crash of Lysander - 1540. An elevator trim problem was suspected after the a/c dove into the ground at high speed. Flight Sergeant R. Prentice and Cpl K.E. Nicolson were both killed. Investigation later confirmed cause as tail gear friction damper had become impregnated with grease allowing tail trim gear to slip to nose down position.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.findagrave.com

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Findagrave.com

Lysander 1540

Corporal Nicholson, Kenneth Elgin (RCAF)
drogue operator
Killed in Flying Accident
1943-January-06
Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Flight Sergeant Prentice, Robert (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1943-January-06
Scarborough (Resthaven) Memorial Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Westland Lysander

Westland Lysander Mk. IIIA
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

Westland_Lysander_369.jpg image not found

Westland Aircraft of Yeovil, UK, started to design an Army Cooperation aircraft for the British Air Ministry, in June 1935. The first Lysander flew a year later and demonstrated a remarkable short field performance that today would be seen in a STOL aircraft. At the outbreak of war in September 1939, seven RAF squadrons equipped with Lysanders were sent to France in support of the British Army. In May-June 1940, 118 Lysanders were destroyed in action and 120 aircrew were killed or taken prisoner. These severe losses showed that the old ideas about army support aircraft were out of date and the future lay in fighters like the Hurricane.

The most daring use of Lysanders in WW II was with the Special Operations Executive, which supported the Resistance in German occupied France and Belgium, by flying in agents and picking up escapees. It was during these night operations, that the Lysander came into its own, using its remarkable STOL capabilities to fly into the small fields marked out by the Resistance.

The first Canadian built Lysanders rolled out of National Steel Car factory at Malton, Ontario in September 1939 and later were delivered to RCAF No. 110 (Army Co-operation) Squadron at Rockcliffe, Ontario. In February 1940, No. 110 became the first RCAF squadron to be ordered overseas to Britain, becoming No. 400 Sqn..

By late 1941, most Canadian built Lysanders had been transferred to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), where they were used for target towing at gunnery training schools. National Steel Car, which became Victory Aircraft, stopped building Lysanders in September 1942, as it started to gear up to manufacture Lancaster bombers. 1,652 Lysanders were built between 1938 and 1943; 225 of them in Canada. Lysanders served with the RAF, RCAF and the RAAF, as well as the air forces of seven other nations.Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

YouTube Lysander

Wikipedia Lysander

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Lysander - Kestrel Publications

General Century of Flight Web Page

4 BGS (4 Bomb and Gunnery School)

The Bombing and Gunnery School (B&GS) offered instruction in the techniques of bomb aiming and aerial machine gunnery to Air Observers, Bomb Aimers, and Wireless Air Gunners. These schools required large areas to accommodate their bombing and gunnery ranges, and were often located near water. The Avro Anson, Fairey Battle, Bristol Bolingbroke, and Westland Lysander were the standard aircraft used at B&GS schools.