Richardson, Harry Frederick (Flight Sergeant)

Prisoner of War Died 1944-October-28

Flight Sergeant Harry Frederick Richardson RCAF

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

Home
Google MapCenterton, Ontario
Memorial Location
Google MapSingapore War Memorial
Column 444
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.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

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.

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