Reeks, William Frederick
Killed in Flying Accident 1945-08-02
Birth Date: 1924
Born:
Son of Walter Charles and Alice Kate Reeks, of Bow, London
Home: Bow, London, England
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RAFVR
Unit
5 OTU- Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Base
Rank
Sergeant
Position
Sergeant
Service Numbers
1814768
Bow, London, England
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.com
Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)Liberator B 24 KN826
Transport 1945-August-02 to 1945-August-02
45 (T) Group (RAF) Lydda, Palestine
45 Group, RAF Transport Command (Ferio Ferendo) Liberator BVIII aircraft KN 826 flew into the ground after a night take-off from Lydda, Palestine on a delivery flight
Flying Officer SA Bennett (RAFVR)(Can), Flying Officer KHL Houghton DFM and Bar (RAF) (a former Evader), Flight Lieutenant JA Sprigge DFM (RAF), Sergeant EF Rogers (RAFVR), Sergeant RR Gibson (RAFVR), Sergeant MA Hammond (RAFVR), Sergeant DG Longhurst (RAFVR), Sergeant RR Milligan (RAFVR), Sergeant TP Pipe (RAFVR), Sergeant WF Reeks (RAFVR), Sergeant R Meanley (RAFVR), Sergeant LR Hollett (RAFVR)(Nfld), Flight Lieutenant A Maycock (RAFVR) were all killed in this flying accident
Lance Sergeant F Woolley of the North Staffordshire Regiment may also have been a passenger lost in this accident (J Baugher)
Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie pages 330, 395
The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas page 246
[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]... Liberator KN826
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 Liberator KN826 B 24 - Transport - 1945-08-02 to 1945-08-02
6 Group Unavailable
45 Group, RAF Transport Command (Ferio Ferendo) Liberator BVIII aircraft KN 826 flew into the ground after a night take-off from Lydda, Palestine on a delivery flight
Flying Officer SA Bennett (RAFVR)(Can), Flying Officer KHL Houghton DFM and Bar (RAF) (a former Evader), Flight Lieutenant JA Sprigge DFM (RAF), Sergeant EF Rogers (RAFVR), Sergeant RR Gibson (RAFVR), Sergeant MA Hammond (RAFVR), Sergeant DG Longhurst (RAFVR), Sergeant RR Milligan (RAFVR), Sergeant TP Pipe (RAFVR), Sergeant WF Reeks (RAFVR), Sergeant R Meanley (RAFVR), Sergeant LR Hollett (RAFVR)(Nfld), Flight Lieutenant A Maycock (RAFVR) were all killed in this flying accident
Lance Sergeant F Woolley of the North Staffordshire Regiment may also have been a passenger lost in this accident (J Baugher)
Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie pages 330, 395
The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas page 246