MacDonald, John Joseph (Civilian Radio Officer)
Killed in Flying Accident 1941-08-14
Birth Date: unkown date
Born:
Home:
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RAF
Unit
Ferry Command- Ferry Command (RAF)
Base
Dorval, Quebec
Rank
Civilian Radio Officer
Position
Civilian Radio Officer
Service Numbers
Ayr Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.comLiberator AM260
Liberator AM260
Ferry Flight 1941-August-14 to 1941-August-14
(Ferry) FU (RAF) Ayr, Scotland
RAF Ferry Command, Return Ferry Service Liberator I aircraft AM 260 crashed and burned when it veered off the runway while taking-off from Heathfield Aerodrome, Ayr, Scotland for a return flight to Ferry Command Headquarters in Dorval Quebec, killing all 22 civilian aircrew and passengers:
This was the second serious crash of a Return Ferry Service LB-30 Liberator in 4 days. Please see Liberator I aircraft AM 261 for more detail and casualty list on this other tragic crash
Combined, the two aircraft crashes were a significant blow to the ability of Ferry Command to effectively conduct operations
These two events may have been the inspiration for the plot device that put the actors into Ferry Command Hudson aircraft in the Warner Brothers propaganda movie on the RCAF, "Captains of the Clouds" being filmed in Canada at the time the crashes occurred
Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie pages 310-11 The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas pages 33,115
[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7
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 bomberLiberator AM260 - Ferry Flight - 1941-08-14 to 1941-08-14
6 Group Unavailable
RAF Ferry Command, Return Ferry Service Liberator I aircraft AM 260 crashed and burned when it veered off the runway while taking-off from Heathfield Aerodrome, Ayr, Scotland for a return flight to Ferry Command Headquarters in Dorval Quebec, killing all 22 civilian aircrew and passengers:
This was the second serious crash of a Return Ferry Service LB-30 Liberator in 4 days. Please see Liberator I aircraft AM 261 for more detail and casualty list on this other tragic crash
Combined, the two aircraft crashes were a significant blow to the ability of Ferry Command to effectively conduct operations
These two events may have been the inspiration for the plot device that put the actors into Ferry Command Hudson aircraft in the Warner Brothers propaganda movie on the RCAF, "Captains of the Clouds" being filmed in Canada at the time the crashes occurred
Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie pages 310-11 The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas pages 33,115