Unit 355 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF) Liberamus Per Caerula We liberate through tropical skies
Base RAF Salbani, West Bengal, India
Rank
Warrant 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 Air Gunner (Nose)
Service Numbers 1480397
Liberator B 24 KH210
Bombing Rangoon, Burma 1945-May-02 to 1945-May-02
355 (B) Sqn (RAF) RAF Salbani, West Bengal, India
355 Squadron (Liberamus per caerula) RAF Salbani, India. The crew of Liberator VI aircraft KH 210 "R" left Salbani for an operation to bomb gun emplacements at Rangoon, Burma but over the Bay of Bengal, the Liberator's outer-port engine caught fire. The propeller was feathered and bomb-load jettisoned before they reversed course in an attempt to return to base. The aircraft was unable to maintain altitude and the captain gave the ditching warning, but at 200 feet the aircraft rolled, dropped the starboard wing and crashed into the sea, killing 10 of the 12 crew aboard the aircraft
Sergeant Robert Taylor Bell (RAFVR), Flying Officer John Calland (RAFVR), Flight Sergeant Donald Urquhart Cameron (RAFVR), Squadron Leader Gerald Anthony De Souza (RAFVR), Sergeant Laurence Helsby (RAFVR), Flying Officer Brian Hill (RAFVR), Flight Sergeant Donald Tofft Nicolson (RAAF), Wing Commander James Brindley Eric Nicolson VC DFC (3 TAF/HQ) and Pilot Officer Jack Spillard (RAFVR) were all missing, presumed killed in action. The missing have no known grave and they are all commemorated on the Singapore Memorial
Only one body was recovered from the crew members killed in action, Canadian Flight Sergeant Samuel Arthur Doherty (RCAF), the second Wireless Operator, who was buried in Calcutta, India
Two crew members, Flight Sergeant Michael Henry Pullen (RAAF) and Warrant Officer Eric Leslie Kightly (RAFVR) were both injured but survived to be rescued by an Air-Sea Rescue Catalina after clinging to floating pieces of their aircraft wreckage for more than 16 hours
The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas, page 207
Nicolson VC The full and authorized biography of James Brindley Nicolson, The only pilot in Fighter Command in World War II to be awarded the Victoria Cross by Peter D Mason page 119,120
(DND Photos via James Craik) (Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page) 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
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