Clarke, James Herbert Stevenson (Warrant Officer 1)

Killed in Action 1943-November-04

Male Head

Birth Date: 1919

Born:

Elizabeth H. Clarke, Moncton, New Brunswick.

Home: Moncton, New Brunswick (mother)

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

148 (SD) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Trusty

Base

Libya

Rank

Warrant Officer 1

Position

Warrant Officer 1

Service Numbers

R/79118

Home
Google MapMoncton, New Brunswick (mother)
Temporary Burial
Google MapBritish Military Cemetery At Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Final Burial
Google MapEnglesko Vojno Groblje
Coll grave Plot 3 Row D Grave 1-7

Liberator of 148 Sqn took off from its Libyan base for a supply-dropping mission for Yugoslav partisans, codename Fungus 33, from which it did not return. It was later learned that it struck a hilltop four miles north of Kosinjski Zamost, 60 miles southeast of Fiume, on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, and the seven crew were killed.

Killed includes Clarke: F/Lt Eldon Burke Elliott RCAF J/4524 KIA Belgrade War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. D. 1-7. Warrant Officer Class 1 Ralph Edward Hawken RCAF R/81068 KIA Belgrade War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. D. 1-7. Flight Sergeant Edwin Archibald Toole RCAF R/53246 KIA Belgrade War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. D. 1-7. F/Lt Hugh Irvine Crawford RNZAF KIA Belgrade War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. D. 1-7. Flight Sergeant William Joseph Dowle RAF KIA Belgrade War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. D. 1-7. F/Lt Maurice Passmore RAF KIA Belgrade War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. D. 1-7.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.findagrave.com

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Crew or Other Personnel

Liberator AL509

Warrant Officer 1 James Herbert Stevenson Clarke RCAF

Warrant Officer 1 Clarke, James Herbert Stevenson (RCAF)
Bomb Aimer
Killed in Action
1943-November-04
Englesko Vojno Groblje, Veljka Dugosevica, Belgrade, Serbia

Flight Lieutenant Eldon Burke Elliott RCAF

Flight Lieutenant Elliott, Eldon Burke (RCAF)
Navigator
Killed in Action
1943-November-04
Englesko Vojno Groblje, Veljka Dugosevica, Belgrade, Serbia

Warrant Officer 1st Class Ralph Edward Hawken RCAF

Warrant Officer 1st Class Hawken, Ralph Edward (RCAF)
Air Gunner
Killed in Action
1943-November-04
Englesko Vojno Groblje, Veljka Dugosevica, Belgrade, Serbia

Flight Sergeant Edwin Archibald Toole RCAF

Flight Sergeant Toole, Edwin Archibald (RCAF)
Flight Engineer
Killed in Action
1943-November-04
Englesko Vojno Groblje, Veljka Dugosevica, Belgrade, Serbia

Liberator serial: AL509

(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