Towsley, Charles Edward
Killed in Action 1944-07-13
Birth Date: 1924
Born:
Son of Miron H. and Elizabeth R. Towsley, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
120 (MP) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Base
Ballykelly
Rank
Pilot Officer
Position
Pilot Officer
Service Numbers
J/93960
Prev: R/180259
Home
Winnipeg, Manitoba
First Burial
Runnymede Memorial Surrey, Uk
120 Squadron. Liberator aircraft BZ 910 was on anti-sub patrol and went out of control while flying at 500 feet. The pilot of the aircraft made a crash landing in the sea north-east of Ireland.
F/Sergeants J.A. Blair, C.A.Peatey, T.Pye, Pilot Officer C.E. Towsley, and Warrant Officer H.S.Cruttenden, were killed. Four crew survived. See link to Consolidated Liberator, BZ910 below for more details.
Consolidated Liberator, BZ910, near Inishtrahull Island, Donegal, July 1944
Canadian Virtual War MemorialConsolidated 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