Thompson, John Willard (Flying Officer)

Killed in Action 1945-February-21

Flying Officer John Willard Thompson RCAF

Birth Date: unkown date

Born:

Parents:

Spouse:

Home: Bowden, Alberta

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: unkown date

Service

RCAF

Unit

223 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Alae Defendunt Africam Wings defend Africa

Base

RAF Oulton

Rank

Flying Officer

Position

Pilot

Service Numbers

J/38084
Prev: R/178102

Home
Google MapBowden, Alberta
Target
Google MapRadio Counter-measures to Hannover Germany
Final Burial
Google MapVenray War Cemetery
Plot VII Row E Grave 1

Took off from Oulton at 22:36 in Liberator Mk VI Sqn code: 6G-J Bomber Command on a Radio Counter Measures mission (dropping chaff) in the direction of Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Shot down by a night fighter and crashed SE of Dortmund, Germany.

Killed includes Thompson: Flight Sergeant Desmond Bryant RAF KIA Venray War Cemetery Ref : VII. E. 6., Holland. Flight Sergeant John Henry Kendall RAF KIA Venray War Cemetery Ref : VII. E. 5. Sergeant Edwin Eric Whittaker RAF KIA Venray War Cemetery Ref : VII. E. 3. Flight Sergeant Ronald Mark Wood RCAF R/176382 KIA Venray War Cemetery Ref : VII. E. 4. Flight Sergeant Ronald Wynn RAF KIA Venray War Cemetery Ref : VII. E. 2.

POWs: W/O William Francis Baker RAF POW camp not listed. W/O Ronald Albert Victor Palmer RAF POW camp not listed. Flight Sergeant George Robert Graham RAF POW camp not listed. Flying Officer Ronald Walter Johnson RAF POW camp not listed. F/Sg. Brian Maxwell RCAF R/191140 POW injured and confined to hospital until liberation.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Liberator serial: TS520

(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