Cunningham, Walter Garfield (Flying Officer)

Killed in Action 1945-March-15

Flying Officer Walter Garfield Cunningham RCAF

Birth Date: 1924

Born:

Parents: Ernest L. & Annie Cunningham

Spouse:

Home: Fort William, Ontario (parents)

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: unkown date

Service

RCAF

Unit

159 (BR) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Quo Non, Quando Non Wither not? when not?

Base

RAF Digri, India

Rank

Flying Officer

Position

Navigator Bomb Aimer

Service Numbers

J/43407
Prev: R/215854

Home
Google MapFort William, Ontario (parents)
Target
Google MapMoulmein Burma
Memorial Location
Google MapSingapore War Memorial
Column 455

Took off from Digri in Liberator KH-256 to bomb bridre(s) on the Burma/Siam Railway at Moulmein, Burma.

,p>Shot down (means not found) and crashed in target area. No Survivors.

Killed includes Cunningham: Pilot Officer Gerald Francis Greenlee RCAF J/95310 KIA Singapore Memorial, Column 457. Flight Sergeant Donald Leo Haberthur RCAF R/258143 KIA Singapore Memorial, Column 458. Flight Sergeant John William Paterson RCAF R/212692 KIA Singapore Memorial, Column 458. Flying Officer Thomas Clement Reeve RCAF J/43995 KIA Singapore Memorial, Column 456. Flying Officer William Francis Stafford RCAF J/44123 KIA Singapore Memorial, Column 456. F/Lt William Murray Tree RCAF J/12488 KIA Singapore Memorial, Column 455. Sergeant John McGibbon Fletcher RAF KIA Singapore Memorial, Panel ???.

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 KH256

Flying Officer Walter Garfield Cunningham RCAF

Flying Officer Cunningham, Walter Garfield (RCAF)
Navigator Bomb Aimer
Killed in Action
1945-March-15
Singapore War Memorial, Singapore

Pilot Officer Gerald Francis Greenlee RCAF

Pilot Officer Greenlee, Gerald Francis (RCAF)
Air Gunner
Killed in Action
1945-March-15
Singapore War Memorial, Singapore

Flight Sergeant Donald Leo Haberthur RCAF

Flight Sergeant Haberthur, Donald Leo (RCAF)
Wireless Air Gunner
Killed in Action
1945-March-15
Singapore War Memorial, Singapore

Flight Sergeant John William Paterson RCAF

Flight Sergeant Paterson, John William (RCAF)
Air Gunner
Killed in Action
1945-March-15
Singapore War Memorial, Singapore

Flying Officer Thomas Clement Reeve RCAF

Flying Officer Reeve, Thomas Clement (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Action
1945-March-15
Singapore War Memorial, Singapore

Flying Officer William Francis Stafford RCAF

Flying Officer Stafford, William Francis (RCAF)
Bomb Aimer
Killed in Action
1945-March-15
Singapore War Memorial, Singapore

Flight Lieutenant William Murray Tree RCAF

Flight Lieutenant Tree, William Murray (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Action
1945-March-15
Singapore War Memorial, Singapore

Liberator serial: KH256

(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