Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum logo

Click on CASPIR logo to go to the entire CASPIR system.

Use the panel to:

  • select Optional Sections
  • Remove Page Breaks, that is, return to the non-print formatted document.
  • Click on the ⇩ to go directly to that section.

Shaver, Wilber Joseph (Flight Sergeant)

Killed in Flying Accident 1943-August-16

Birth Date: 1922-February-12 (age 21)

Born: Lansing, Michigan

Son of Joseph I. Shaver and Ninah M. Shaver, of Lancing, Michigan.

Home: Lansing, Michigan, USA

Enlistment: Windsor, Ontario

Enlistment Date: 1941-11-22

Service
RCAF
Unit
1622 Flight- Flight
Rank
Flight 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
Pilot
Service Numbers
R/137419
1622 Flight, Gosport. Defiant aircraft DR 896 was operating at 1,000 feet and was approaching the practise target on its sixth run in when it went into some low level aerobatics and crashed at the Eastney A.A. Range, Hampshire, England. One airman, not Canadian, was also killed.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

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

Boulton Paul Defiant

(RAF Photo) (Source Harold A Skaarup web page)
Boulton Paul P.82 Defiant, RAF (Serial No. L7026), coded PS*V, c1941.

The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns, also found in the Blackburn Roc of the Royal Navy.

In combat, the Defiant was found to be reasonably effective at destroying bombers but was vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and its potential was realised only when it was converted to a night fighter. It eventually equipped thirteen squadrons in this role, compared to just two squadrons as a day-fighter. In mid-1942 it was replaced by better performing night-fighters, the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.

The Defiant continued to find use in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue. Among RAF pilots it had the nickname "Daffy". Wikipedia





YouTube Defiant Fighter

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Defiant Fighter

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

CASPIR Aircraft Groups:
Canadian Aircraft Losses (21)
last update: 2021-10-13 19:25:12

Defiant TT.Mk.I DR896

© Canadian Warplane Heritage 2024

To search on any page:
PC — Ctrl-F
Mac — ⌘-F
Mobile — or …