Culbert, Joseph
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
RAF Ayr
Rank
Civilian Radio Officer
Position
Civilian Radio Officer
Service Numbers
First Burial
Ayre Cemetery, Ayrshire, Scotland
Crashed and burned on takeoff from Ayr on Return Ferry Service. Veered off runway across the grass and past the control tower, struck a small building and then an embankment. It then plunged over the embankment to the railway line, where it burst into flames. 22 onboard killed.
Killed includes Culbert:First Officer Elbert Beard Anding civ. KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot G. Row 6. Grave 2.Radio Officer Richard Coates civ. KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2750-2763.F/E Roland Folford Davis civ. KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot C. Row 0. Grave 15.Captain Murray Benjamin (Jnr.) Dilley civ. KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot G. Row 2. Grave 158.Radio Officer Robert Arnold Duncan civ. pilot KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2750-2763.Captain Alton Chester Earle civ. KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot G. Row 2. Grave 155.Radio Officer Wesley Francis J. Goddard civ. KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2750-2763.Captain Edward C. Hamel (Amer.) KIFA Liberator AM260 Archive Post [RAF] 1941-08-14 ATA United States of America New York City Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, Lot 2857. Grave 110Radio Officer Donald Norman Hannant civ. KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2750-2763.Captain Gerald Hull civ. pilot KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot C. Row 0. Grave 2.Captain John Joseph Kerwin (Amer.) civ. KIFA Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery, Hayward, Sec. E. Row 37. Grave 15.First Officer Philip Francis Lee civ. KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery Plot G. Row 4. Grave 162.Radio Officer John Joseph MacDonald civ. pilot KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire, Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2750-2763.Captain James John Moffat RAF KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire, Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2763-2750.Radio Officer Glenwood McKay RAF KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire, Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2763-2750.Radio Officer Albert Tamblin KIFA Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire, Sec. R. 1931 Div. Coll. grave 2763-2750.First Officer Walter Lee Trimble civ. KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery Plot E. Row 0. Grave 92.First Officer Earl Wellington Watson civ. pilot KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot G. Row 5. Grave 161.First Officer Martin Joseph Wetzel civ. KIFA Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot G. Row 3. Grave 156.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.comLiberator 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]... Liberator AM260
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 bomber Liberator 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