Air Force Index

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No. 431 (Iroquoise) Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force    No.431 (Iroquois) Squadron RCAF was formed at Burn in Yorkshire on the 11th Novemeber 1942, flying the Wellington X. Later they flew the Halifax V and the Lancaster X The Squadron retruned to Canada on the 12th of June 1945 Airfields at which No. 431 Squadron were based: Burn. 11 Nov 42 to 15 July 1943 Tholthorpe. 15 July 1943 to 10 Dec 1943 Croft.10 Dec 1943 to 12 June 1945    Photographs 4th Dec 1943 Aircraft Lost 29th Dec 1943 Aircraft Lost 31st Mar 1945 Lancaster Lost 6th Jun 1944 Coastal Defences 6th Jun 1944 Supply Lines 17th Jun 1944 431 Squadron Halifax lost 2nd Nov 1944 Mascot's First Flight 5th Jan 1945 Night Ops 27th Feb 1945 Night Ops 2nd Mar 1945 Night Ops 3rd Mar 1945 Night Ops 4th Mar 1945 Enemy Raider 8th Apr 1945 Night Ops 13th Apr 1945 Night Ops 22nd Apr 1945 Night Ops 15th August 1945 Tiger Force If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Logbooks Do you have a WW2 Flying Log Book in your possession? If so it would be a huge help if you could add logbook entries to our new database. Thank you. View Logbook entries Those known to have served with No. 431 (Iroquoise) Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Badgery. Frank Alexander . Carter George Frederick. Sgt. (d.29th January 1944) Connor DFC. Donald Daubney. F/O. (d.1st November 1944) Davis DFC. Kenneth Knight. Desborough William Edward. (d.29th July 1944) Edgar Alexander William . F/O. (d.12th April 1943) Fawns Herman Stanley. WO2. (d.22nd June 1943) Heron Angus Brown. Heron Angus Brown. F/Lt. Hill John Raymond. W/O Hill Ray. Johnstone Mervyn M.. F/Lt Joiner Raymond Conserdine. P/O. (d.1st November 1944) Jose G Beverly. (d.6th Jun 1944) Jose Gordon Beverly. P/O (d.8th Jun 1944) Lightbown James. Mitchell DFC, CD. Eric Martin. Wing Cmdr. Morton John. P/O. (d.26th Nov 1943) Murphy Stewart W.. P/O. Perry John Ralph Marwood. Sgt. Perry John Ralph Marwood. Sgt. Perry Lloyd J.. Flt.Sgt. Pond Belgium Croix de Guerre 1940 with palm Hubert William. P/O (d.27th Apr 1944) Roberts Thomas George. Sgt. (d.16th Nov 1943) Samson. F.. Sgt The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records of No. 431 (Iroquoise) Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 22nd April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263973 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates. If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about No. 431 (Iroquoise) Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force? There are:2016 items tagged No. 431 (Iroquoise) Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. Ray "Bunker" Hill 431 Squadron My late Father, Ray Hill was posted to Burn in early 1941 to be part of the new 431 Squadron. The Squadron in front of Wellington SE-A at Burn in 1943. Marc Hill Add to this record. P/O Gordon Beverly Jose 431 Squadron (d.8th Jun 1944) My husband's uncle Gordon Beverly Jose, R.C.A.F., was shot down between the beginning of WWII and Sep 18th 1943. He was 431 Squadron and was a bomb aimer. I have looked everywhere on the net trying to find info and have been unsuccessful, can anyone help? Editor's Note: According to the CWGC website, Gordon Jose was lost his life on the 8th of June 1944 and is buried in Blevy Communal Cemetery, France. All the crew lie together, the only CWGC burials in the vilage cemetery. they were: P/O John Peter Artyniuk. RCAF P/O Gilbert Alfred John Curtis, RAF F/Sgt. Donald Angus Flett, RAFVR F/O Peter Joseph Gandy, RCAF P/O Gordon Beverley Jose, RCAF F/O Hugh Allan Morrison, RCAF P/O William Dakin Mullin, RCAF Sgt. William Teape, RAFVR The targets that night were the road and rail junction at Acheres and the rail yards at Versailles, this particular aircraft is listed as "failed to return" to RAF Tholhorpe in North Yorkshire. Dianne Add to this record. James Lightbown 431 Squadron I lived just down the hill from Jim Lightbown and am proud of him and his service to the Bomber Comand and my friend. In the book Lancaster published by M Garbett and B Goulding page 176 you can see a photo of his plane KB837 SE-X. Thank you to them all who served Add to this record. Sgt. Thomas George Roberts 431 Squadron (d.16th Nov 1943) Flight Engineer Thomas Roberts is not recorded on the local memorials, but is mentioned on his parents' gravestone in Bethany Chapel, Waunarlwydd. His parents are Samuel and Sal Roberts, both of whom died after him. He was 21 at date of death. The stone records he was killed in action over Germany. It says "His sun went down whilst it was yet day". Pamela Morgan Add to this record. F/Lt. Angus Brown Heron 431 Squadron Angus Heron was my brother, he was an Air Gunner. Gus and his crew completed their tour, he was screened from operations in September 1944. Eventually he was sent to Egypt and became adjutant at Cairo West. William Heron Add to this record. F/O. Alexander William Edgar 431 Squadron (d.12th April 1943) Bill Edgar served with 431 Squadron. Add to this record. P/O. Raymond Conserdine Joiner 431 Suadron (d.1st November 1944) Pilot Officer (Flight Engineer) Raymond Joiner served with 431 Squadron flying from RAF Croft. S Flynn Add to this record. F/O. Donald Daubney Connor DFC. 431 Squadron (d.1st November 1944) Flying Officer (Pilot) Donald Connor was the son of Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Connor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. S Flynn Add to this record. P/O. Stewart W. Murphy 431 Squadron Target Hamburg by Stewart W. Murphy, Former Pilot Officer, Rear Gunner 431 (Iroquois) Squadron R.C.A.F. Stationed at Croft, Yorkshire, England. One of my most memorable operations was a so called routine raid on the Hamburg submarine pens, 31st of March 1945. Although, it started out as a routine day, it would grow progressively worse. The weather was deteriorating fast. We would have to bomb on H2S radar through heavy clouds. To further complicate things, our fighter escort was late and would not get there in time of the bombing run, our most vulnerable time. As was usual on all of our trips, the crew would report to the Navigator anything that appeared unusual, just to pass the time. An unusual situation was developing far to our rear. I could just make out what looked like a bomber blowing up. It seemed like several minutes, but it was really only seconds before I could make out what looked like a twin engine fighter off our starboard rear quarter. It appeared several hundred yards off, streaming past the bombers to our rear. It was not one of our escorts. In the last few minutes I recognized it was a ME262 jet. It was a real surprise, we had never seen on before! I calmly raised my voice and asked the Pilot to corkscrew to starboard. I let off a short burst with my four Browning 303's which caught the jet full on to its port engine. The jet just blew up as it peeled over into the clouds. I reported what happened and we resumed our normal course. A few seconds later my racing thoughts were interrupted by the mid-upper gunner. He cried, "There's another one coming in higher from the rear." We dived again to the starboard and we let loose with all of our guns. The fighter seemed to just hang there for a second before the cockpit and port engine exploded. Blowing "something" out of the sky can be described as a strange marriage of excitement, fear and disgust. That "something" had once threatened our aircraft. It could have very easily been our aircraft going down in flames. I continued to count the bombers blowing up as we left the target area. It was later confirmed that we lost 21 Lancaster and the Germans lost 26 fighters. It was a staggering loss on both sides. Most of the German fighters were shot down by our tardy fighter escort. They used their favorite method of following the much faster jets back to their base and would then catch them with their wheels down when they came in to land. The German fighters were DEAD DUCKS before they knew it! We claimed two fighters that day. They gave us one and one-half (we had to share the second one with another Lancaster crew). Authors note: The R.C.A.F. flew Lanks, Hallys, & Wimpys out of #6 Canadian Bomber Group in Yorkshire, England. We flew mostly night raids, so our formations (or lack of one) was totally different than the boys in the Libs and Forts. We flew in what was known as a gaggle (as in gaggle of geese). Each aircraft was on his own, flying at predetermined heights, usually spread between 17 and 20 thousand feet; arriving over the target rather strung out. At night we were one of many hundred aircraft sharing the sky. Often the only aircraft you would see was one of ours going down. It would light the sky for a minute, then we were back to that black anonymity of being alone again... or so you hoped. About the photographs. I did 32 operations in this Lanc as Tail Gunner. She flew 61 missions before she was flown home to be part of the Tiger Force, which was being formed to take part in the Pacific war. I flew 18 missions on her and 13 on Halifax Bombers as Tail Gunner. I had several "interesting" trips in both types. One of the most "interesting" raids was on Hamburg where we were attacked by 90 JU88s and the, then new, ME262s. My mid-upper gunner and myself shot down two ME262s, all told we lost 21 Lancasters they lost 26 fighters. In the picture of the turret, you can see the front perspective plastic has been removed, leaving the tail gunner open to the elements. Although, this gave us much better visibility, it also made it very cold. When flying 18,000 to 20,000 feet, it was often 40 or 50 degrees below zero outside. We were bundled up in four layers of clothing, including an electric suit (that came with electric gloves and slippers). The main drawback to this was the fact you worked up a sweat before take off, so when you plugged in you usually got zapped with a shock. This made you put off plugging in until you were damn near frozen. D J Dyer Add to this record. Kenneth Knight Davis DFC. 431 (Iroquois) Squadron I am looking for information on my grandfather Ken Davis, he was a Navigator. He will be 102 years old in less than a month and still has a very sound mind. I am trying to find more pictures and articles for his history in WW2. Shawna Davis-Bibeau Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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