Brookes, John West (Flight Sergeant)

Killed in Flying Accident 1945-June-02

Male Head

Birth Date: unkown date

Born:

Parents:

Spouse:

Home:

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: unkown date

Service

RAF

Unit

111 OTU- Operational Training Unit (RAF)

Base

RAF Nassau, Bahamas

Rank

Flight Sergeant

Position

Service Numbers

968315

ALLBUT, George Robert - W/O - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ]. BROOKES, John West - Flight Sergeant - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ]. BURNS, James Williamson - Sergeant - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ]. FRANKS, Robert Henry - Sergeant - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ]. MacDONALD, John Blair - Pilot Officer - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ]. NEILSON, John - Flight Lieutenant - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ]. PARKER, Kenneth Gordon - Flight Sergeant - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ]. SWINBANKS, Joseph Hancock - Flying Officer - Liberator V - BZ811 - 111 OTU ].

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Liberator serial: BZ811

(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


YouTube Liberator bomber

Wikipedia Wikipedia Liberator bomber

unvetted Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page