Stephens, R N (Flight Lieutenant)

Prisoner of War 1944-September-16

Male Head

Birth Date: unkown date

Born:

Home: Toronto, Ontario

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RAF

Unit

355 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Liberamus Per Caerula We liberate through tropical skies

Base

Rank

Flight Lieutenant

Position

Warrant Officer

Service Numbers

186874

Home
Google MapToronto, Ontario

Stephens, in EV902 collided over Burma with EV114 of 56Sqn and crashed. Seven of the ten man crew died in the crash: Pilot Officer Frederick Edward Blackman RAF KIA Myanmar Taukkyan War Cemetery Collective grave 28. F. 18-24. Sergeant David John Drake RAF POW Myanmar Taukkyan War Cemetery Coll. grave 28. F. 18-24. Flying Officer John Bernard Fitzgerald RCAF J/25844 POW Myanmar Taukkyan War Cemetery Coll. grave 28. F. 18-24. F/Lt Ernest Philip Jeffrey Gray RAAF POW Myanmar Taukkyan War Cemetery Coll. grave 28. F. 18-24. W/O Arthur Green RAF POW Myanmar Taukkyan War Cemetery Coll. grave 28. F. 18-24. Sergeant Roy Kelsall RAF POW Myanmar Taukkyan War Cemetery Coll. grave 28. F. 18-24. Flight Sergeant Leonard James Lewis RAF POW Myanmar Taukkyan War Cemetery Coll. grave 28. F. 18-24.

POWs (three men) including Stephens: ? ? Alan Bailes Wireless Air Gunner EV902 and one other unknown man.

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Liberator serial: EV902

(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