NewelIton, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia
53 Squadron. Liberator aircraft missing.
Addendum: The crew of Liberator aircraft BZ 945 failed to return from an anti-sub patrol over the Bay of Biscay, believed lost to enemy action whilst attacking an enemy U-boat. The last signal indicated they were investigating a contact thought to be an enemy submarine. F/0. E.J. Hagen, FS.s Wilfred A. Hallett, T.R. McDennon, and seven of the crew, not Canadians, were also killed.
Newell, Claude Ralston (Flight Sergeant)
Killed in Action 1944-April-17
Birth Date: 1923
Born:
Parents: Son of Mitchell Walter and Elizabeth Maud Newell, of Newellton, Shelburne Co., Nova Scotia, Canada.
Spouse:
Home: NewelIton, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RCAF
Unit
53 Sqn- Squadron
Base
Rank
Flight Sergeant
Position
Wireless Air Gunner
Service Numbers
R/153296
Canadian Virtual War MemorialCrew or Other Personnel
Liberator BZ945
Liberator serial: BZ945
(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.
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
Liberator bomber
Wikipedia Liberator bomber
Harold A Skaarup Web Page