Elding, James Robert
Killed in Flying Accident 1943-02-09
Birth Date: 1922
Born:
Son of Arthur and Dorothy Elding, of Plumtree, Nottinghamshire
Home: Plumtree, Nottinghamshire, England
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RAFVR
Unit
45 Group (RAF)
Base
RCAF Stn. Dorval, Quebec
Rank
Sergeant
Position
Sergeant
Service Numbers
1426940
First Burial
Gander War Cemetery, Gander, Newfoundland
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.com
Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)Liberator Mk. II AL591
Transport 1943-February-08 to 1943-February-09
45 (T) Group (RAF) Prestwick, Scotland
45 Group RAF Transport Command, Dorval, Quebec. Liberator II aircraft AL591 was engaged in a Return Ferry Service flight, bringing a mix of civilian and military pilots, navigators, radio operators and flight engineers from Prestwick, Scotland to Gander, Newfoundland. The weather conditions were poor at Gander with low visibility due to a severe snow storm, but short on fuel, diverting to another airport was not possible. Sadly, AL591 crashed on approach ten miles north-east of Gander, killing most of those aboard. The weather conditions further hampered search efforts, which could not begin for two after the crash. Amazingly, there were three survivors but one died later in hospital, which meant that nineteen of the twenty-one aboard the aircraft were lost
Flight Sergeant WH Kyle (RCAF), Flying Officer RI Scott (RCAF), American civilian Pilot/Captain FA Dugan, Sergeant JA Elding (RAFVR), British civilian GP Eves, British civilian TR Barnes, Sergeant HL Lewis (RAFVR), American civilian RM Lloyd, Sergeant DJ Owen (RAF), American civilian J Stagner, British Civilian FJ Brown, Canadian civilian F Scrafton, British civilian R Wadsworth, Canadian civilian EG Longley, British civilian JB Merriman, Canadian civilian IW Wilson and a passenger, British Army officer Lieutenant-Colonel LT Grove were killed in this flying accident
Sergeant GP Pollard (RAF), a pilot, had initially survived the crash but succumbed to his injuries and died in hospital 1943-02-11
Captain KE Parker Jr (USA) and Flying Officer CM Ableson (RAF) survived the crash with injuries
Note: no other information has been found to date about these two survivors
The crash of Liberator AL591 1943-02-09 was the largest loss of life at Gander during the entire war
Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie pages 317, 391
The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas page 111
North Atlantic Cat by Don McVicar, Chapter 15 pages 106-113
{Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...
Gander Airport Historical Society
Liberator AL591
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 AL591 Mk. II - Transport - 1943-02-08 to 1943-02-09
6 Group Unavailable
45 Group RAF Transport Command, Dorval, Quebec. Liberator II aircraft AL591 was engaged in a Return Ferry Service flight, bringing a mix of civilian and military pilots, navigators, radio operators and flight engineers from Prestwick, Scotland to Gander, Newfoundland. The weather conditions were poor at Gander with low visibility due to a severe snow storm, but short on fuel, diverting to another airport was not possible. Sadly, AL591 crashed on approach ten miles north-east of Gander, killing most of those aboard. The weather conditions further hampered search efforts, which could not begin for two after the crash. Amazingly, there were three survivors but one died later in hospital, which meant that nineteen of the twenty-one aboard the aircraft were lost
Flight Sergeant WH Kyle (RCAF), Flying Officer RI Scott (RCAF), American civilian Pilot/Captain FA Dugan, Sergeant JA Elding (RAFVR), British civilian GP Eves, British civilian TR Barnes, Sergeant HL Lewis (RAFVR), American civilian RM Lloyd, Sergeant DJ Owen (RAF), American civilian J Stagner, British Civilian FJ Brown, Canadian civilian F Scrafton, British civilian R Wadsworth, Canadian civilian EG Longley, British civilian JB Merriman, Canadian civilian IW Wilson and a passenger, British Army officer Lieutenant-Colonel LT Grove were killed in this flying accident
Sergeant GP Pollard (RAF), a pilot, had initially survived the crash but succumbed to his injuries and died in hospital 1943-02-11
Captain KE Parker Jr (USA) and Flying Officer CM Ableson (RAF) survived the crash with injuries
Note: no other information has been found to date about these two survivors
The crash of Liberator AL591 1943-02-09 was the largest loss of life at Gander during the entire war
Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie pages 317, 391
The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas page 111
North Atlantic Cat by Don McVicar, Chapter 15 pages 106-113
{Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...
Gander Airport Historical Society