Crosson, Victor Gilbert (Warrant Officer 1)

Killed in Flying Accident 1945-July-13

Warrant Officer 1 Victor Gilbert Crosson RCAF

Birth Date: 1923-November-11

Born:

Parents: David & Lillian Crosson.

Spouse: Dorothy Crosson, of Thessalon, Ontario

Home: Thessalon, Ontario

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: unkown date

Service

RCAF

Unit

11 (BR) Sqn- Squadron

Base

RCAF Stn. Patricia Bay BC

Rank

Warrant Officer 1

Position

Wireless Air Gunner

Service Numbers

R/151140

Home
Google MapThessalon, Ontario
Temporary Burial
Google MapIsolated grave at the crash site
Memorial Location
Google MapOttawa War Memorial
Panel 4 Column 3

Took off from Patricia Bay on a cross country training flight landing at RCAF Comox then on to RCAF Tofino where seven passengers including three women from the RCAF Women's Division (RCAF-WD) boarded to fly back to Patricia Bay.

Due to bad weather, the aircraft crashed into the forest covered side of a mountain seven miles east-south-east of Bamfield, near the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. Everyone aboard was killed on impact.

Killed: Flying Officer William Edward Davies, RCAF Flying Officer Robert Joseph Martello RCAF J/26660 KIFA Flying Officer Nicholas Maxwell Popovich RCAF J/47933 KIFA Flight Sergeant Donald William Hope, RCAF R/59081 KIFA Flying Officer Harry Alexander Lowe RCAF J/47850 KIFA Warrant Officer 1 Victor Gilbert Crosson ECAF R/151140 KIFA Warrant Officer 2 Joseph Bertrand Raymond Presse RCAF R/90751 KIFA Passenger Corp. William Hrysko, RCAF R/106466 KIFA Passenger Corp. Norman Marshall Johnson RCAF R/130808 KIFA Passenger Leading Aircraftman Raymond Valentine Kiteley, RCAF R/255935 KIFA Passenger Leading Aircraftman Lloyd Henry Tull RCAF R/261754 KIFA Passenger Sergeant Pamela Gladys Bennett RCAF-WD W/316180 KIFA Passenger Corp. Nora Marshall Johnson, RCAF-WD W/307410 KIFA Passenger LAW Margaret Mann RCAF-WD W/302037 KIFA

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 11121

Sergeant Pamela Gladys Bennett RCAFWD

Sergeant Bennett, Pamela Gladys (RCAFWD)
dental assistant
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Warrant Officer 1 Victor Gilbert Crosson RCAF

Warrant Officer 1 Crosson, Victor Gilbert (RCAF)
Wireless Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Flying Officer William Edward Davies RCAF

Flying Officer Davies, William Edward (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Flight Sergeant Donald William Hope RCAF

Flight Sergeant Hope, Donald William (RCAF)
Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Corporal William Hrysko RCAF

Corporal Hrysko, William (RCAF)
air frame mechanic
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Corporal Nora Johnson RCAFWD

Corporal Johnson, Nora (RCAFWD)
meteorological observer
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Corporal Norman Marshall Johnson RCAF

Corporal Johnson, Norman Marshall (RCAF)

Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Isolated Grave On The South-West Shore Of Barkley Sound, Fifteen Miles South-East Of Bamfield, British Columbia, Canada

Leading Aircraftman Raymond Valentine Kiteley RCAF

Leading Aircraftman Kiteley, Raymond Valentine (RCAF)

Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Flying Officer Harry Alexander Lowe RCAF

Flying Officer Lowe, Harry Alexander (RCAF)
Wireless Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Leading Aircraftwoman Margaret Mann RCAFWD

Leading Aircraftwoman Mann, Margaret (RCAFWD)

Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Flying Officer Robert Joseph Martello RCAF

Flying Officer Martello, Robert Joseph (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Flying Officer Nicholas Maxwell Popovich RCAF

Flying Officer Popovich, Nicholas Maxwell (RCAF)
Navigator
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Warrant Officer 2 Joseph Bertrand Raymond Presse RCAF

Warrant Officer 2 Presse, Joseph Bertrand Raymond (RCAF)
Wireless Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Leading Aircraftman Lloyd Henry Tull RCAF

Leading Aircraftman Tull, Lloyd Henry (RCAF)
aero engine mechanic
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-July-13
Ottawa War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Liberator serial: 11121

(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

Aircraft Images

Liberator 11121

Liberator B-24L / GR Mk. VIII 11121

Ex USAAF B-24L-1-FO, their serial 44-49131. To RAF in March 1945, their serial KL519. Like most Ford built Liberators, unpopular with crews because of many small failures. First used by No. 11 (BR) Squadron at RCAF Station Dartmouth, NS from 4 April 1945. First Mk. VIII with this unit. Coded "X". Redesignated GR Mk. VIII on 24 May 1945. To Western Air Command with this unit on 26 June 1945, to RCAF Station Patricia Bay, BC. Crashed on 13 June 1945. Flew into mountain at 2800 foot level in the Somerset Range, 7 miles east-south-east Bamfield, BC while on cross country training flight, after picking up 7 sight-seers at Tofino. No survivors, the 14 killed included Corporal Nora Johnson and her younger brother Corporal Norman M. Johnson. Wreckage not found until 17 July 1945. All bodies buried at crash site. Ownership to No. 3 Repair Depot on 23 July 1945, for write off.

1945-03-26 Taken on Strength Eastern Air Command 2019-08-20
1945-July-13 Accident: 11 Squadron Loc: Not Known Names: Bennett | Crosson | Davies | Hope | Hrysko | Johnston | Johnston | Kiteley | Lowe | Mann | Martello | Popovich | Presse | Tull
1945-08-20 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20

Unit Desciption

11 (BR) Sqn ()