Centerton, Ontario
159 Squadron (Quo Non Quando Non). Liberator aircraft B7978 was attacked by enemy fighters, two engines were unserviceable and one RAF member of the crew was killed. FS Richardson and two crew members, not Canadians, were wounded in the attack. The Liberator was forced to land in the Bay of Bengal north of Cape Negrais, Burma. Richardson, one RAF and one RAAF member of the crew got into a dinghy but three RAAF and one RAF member of the crew did not make it out of the aircraft. An air-sea search was organized and although a fleeting glimpse was had twice of the dinghy a rescue could not be effected. FS Richardson succumbed to his injuries on October 28, 1944 while a Prisoner of War in a jail in Rangoon, Burma.
Richardson, Harry Frederick (Flight Sergeant)
Prisoner of War Died 1944-October-28
Birth Date: 1923
Born:
Parents: Son of Walter and Eliza Richardson.
Spouse:
Home: Centerton, Ontario
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RCAF
Unit
159 Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Quo Non, Quando Non Wither not? when not?
Base
Rank
Flight Sergeant
Position
Air Gunner
Service Numbers
R/184955
Canadian Virtual War MemorialCrew or Other Personnel
Liberator BZ978
Liberator serial: BZ978
(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 PageRead More ....