Pearce, William Douglas Victor (Pilot Officer)

Prisoner of War 1942-December-31

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Birth Date: unkown date

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Service

RCAF

Unit

115 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Despite The Elements

Base

Rank

Pilot Officer

Position

Service Numbers

J/90058
PoW: 27309

Target
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Took off from East Wretham at 17:13 in Wellington Mk III (Sqn code: KO-T Bomber Command) on an operation to bomb the Frisian Islands.

Aircraft came down in the sea off France.

Killed: Sergeant Henry Clay RAF KIA Tynemouth (Preston) Cemetery Sec. K. Grave 14512.

POWs: Flight Sergeant Leslie William Hickman RAF POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria. Flight Sergeant William Thomas Jones RCAF R/93413 POW Stalag 344 Lamsdorf. Flight Sergeant Donald McKay RCAF R/102092 POW Stalag 2D Stargard. Sergeant Samuel William Walmsley RCAF R/87948 POW Stalag 344 Lamsdorf. Flight Sergeant William Douglas Victor Pearce RCAF R/number POW camp not listed.

Unit Desciption

115 (B) Sqn Despite The Elements ()

No. 115 Sqn was originally formed on Dec 1, 1917 as a heavy bomber squadron and joined the Independent Air Force of the RAF in August 1918. It was disbanded in 1919, then re-formed in June 1937. It formed part of RAF Bomber Command No. 3 Group in WWII. Starting with Handley Page Harrow aircraft, it transferred to Vickers Wellingtons in 1939, which it flew until March 1943, when it transferred to Avro Lancaster B. Mk. II and later B. Mks I and III. Between April 1940 and September 1942 the squadron was seconded to Coastal Command and based at Kinloss, Scotland. It rejoined Bomber Command and flew from Mildenhall, East Wretham and Little Snoring in 1942 and 1943 before settling at Witchford, Cambridgeshire from November 1943 until the end of hostilities.

In April 1940 the squadron made the RAF's first bombing attack on the mainland of Europe, at Stavanger in Norway. In August of 1941 it participated in the service trials of the new navigational aid, GEE, and as a result of its report the device was put into mass production. Overall, in WWII the squadron flew 5392 sorties and dropped about 23,000 tons of bombs. This was the second-highest tonnage of bombs in Bomber Command. The squadron was 3rd in the number of raids in the course of the war. Since it was active over the whole span of WWI, it lost the greatest number of aircraft of any squadron in Bomber Command: it was the only squadron to lose more than 200 aircraft.