208972 F/O. James Conway Burns DFM.RAFVR 106 Squadron from:Gateshead  (d.6th Oct 1945) My Uncle F/O James Conway Burns had tranferred to 99 Squadron, based on the Cocos Islands, following his completion of operations as a navigator with 106 Lancaster Squadron for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal. He flew five sorties with the same crew in 99 Squadron Liberator EW236 "K" King, taking supplies to Singapore for prisoners of war. On the 6th of October 1945 they were taking supplies to Kallang airfield when it is believed the aircraft crashed into the sea in bad weather; possibly due to a cyclone. Although attempts were made to find them the bad weather forced the search aircraft back to base. My uncle and his crew are commemorated at the Kranji War memorial Singapore. James was only 24 years old when he died.
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