Craig, Alfred Burton (Flight Sergeant)

Killed in Action 1942-August-13

Flight Sergeant Alfred Burton Craig RCAF

Birth Date: 1920-July-26

Born: Saint John, New Brunswick

Home: St John, New Brunswick

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

120 (AS) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)

Base

RAF Coastal Command Ballykelly, Northerm Ireland

Rank

Flight Sergeant

Position

Flight Sergeant

Service Numbers

R/50369

Home
Google MapSt John, New Brunswick
Memorial Location
Google MapRunnymede Memorial Surrey
Panel 103

Took off from Ballykelly on a daytime anti-submarine patrol of the North Atlantic.

Returning from a patrol where they had attacked and been damaged by sub U 256, a type VII U-boat commanded by Odo Loewe. The aircraft ditched in the sea off the coast of N.I. after all 4 engines stopped after dropping three depth charges at low level, thirty miles south-west of Tory Island, north-west of County Donegal, Ireland

Detail from: (discussion page www.rafcommands.com and D Burke, http://www.ww2irishaviation.com/lv341.htm)

Killed includes Craig: Pilot Officer Victor Dennis James RNZAF KIA Runnymede Memorial Panel 116. Sergeant Seymour Clare RAF KIA Runnymede Memorial Panel 80. Flight Sergeant Kenneth Henry Watson RAF KIA Runnymede Memorial Panel 76.

Survivors: Sergeant H V F Archer RAF Sergeant P F George RAF Sergeant W C Gordon RAF Sergeant F N Hollies RAF were rescued by the trawler, GLENAGILL from Fleetwood, Ireland.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.findagrave.com

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Liberator serial: LV341

(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