Operation: Chemnitz
Date: March 5 1945 (Monday)
Unit: No. 426 Squadron RCAF - Motto: On Wings of Fire
Squadron Badge: A Thunderbird
Type: Handley Page Halifax VII
Serial: LW210
Code: OW-Y
Base: RAF Linton on Ouse, North Riding of Yorkshire
Location: No. 28 Nunthorpe Grove, York
Pilot: F/Lt Ivor Emerson J11482 RCAF Age 29* - Killed (1)
Fl/Eng: P/O Walter Thomas Symes 195926 RAFVR Age 21 - Killed (2)
Nav: F/O Alick Matheson Hutchinson J39872 RCAF Age 25 - Killed (3)
Air/Bmr: Thomas Marnoch Campbell J39018 RCAF Age 21 - Killed (4)
W/Op/Air/Gnr: P/O John Low J91020 RCAF Age? Injured - Survived (5)
Air/Gnr: P/O John Neil MacDougall J94554 RCAF Age 22 - Killed (6)
Air/Gnr: P/O Raymond Hilton Turner J94478 RCAF Age 20 - Killed (7)
REASON FOR LOSS:
Severe airframe icing. For further details see JB122 ADDENDUM: AIRFRAME ICING - Loss 5
BURIAL DETAILS, MEMORIALS AND EPITAPHS
(1) F/Lt Ivor Emerson was buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery - Sec. H. Row P. Grave 7.
His epitaph reads:
Dearly beloved husband
Of Ruth Lamb Emerson
And father of Mariclaire
Son of Harold and Clara A. Emerson; husband of Ruth Lamb Emerson, of Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S.A. *DOB- April 3 1915, Cambuslang, Scotland, British Subject. Information from LAC/ancestry.ca, Attestation form signed by Ivor Emerson on June 18, 1940. Electrical engineer.
(2) P/O Walter Thomas Symes was buried at Thorncombe (St. Mary) Churchyard and Extension - Extension, North part. Row 7. Grave 3.
No epitaph
Son of Bert and Ida Bessie Symes, of Westford, Somerset.
(3) F/O Alick Matheson Hutchinson was buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery - Sec. H. Row P. Grave 6. DOB- February 23, 1920, Inverness, Scotland. Metallurgical engineer.
(4) F/O Thomas Marnoch Campbell was buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery - Sec. H. Row P. Grave 5.
His epitaph reads:
He died for freedom.
Ever remembered
By his father and brothers
Son of Robert Marnoch and Isabella Campbell, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
(6) P/O John Neil MacDougall was buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery - Sec. H. Row P. Grave 2.
His epitaph reads:
A place is vacant
In our home,
Which never can be filled
Son of Alexander and Mary Florence MacDougall, of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada.
(7) P/O Raymond Hilton Turner was buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery - Sec. H. Row P. Grave 4.
His epitaph reads:
He died
That others might live
In peace and security
Son of Raymond Hilton and Florence Mary Turner, of Fort William, Ontario, Canada.
References:
Aircrew Remembered Archive Report: JB122 Addendum- Airframe Icing. Journey’s End, Kevin Wilson- Chapter Fourteen, A COLD AND SILENT KILLER pp. 266-292. Library and Archives Canada/ancestry.ca.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.
Photo Credits: LAC/ancestry.ca: Canada, WWII Service Files of War Dead, 1939-1947. A3. F/L Ivor Emerson - File 27467 Image 216. B3. F/O Alick Hutchinson - File 30660 Image 56. C3. F/O Thomas Campbell - File 25002 Image 2. D3. P/O John MacDougall - File 28070 Image 164. E3. P/O Raymond Turner - File 28842 Image 344. Journey’s End: Crash-site of LW210 at Nunthorpe Grove, York.
Co-Authors:
John Naylor
Maureen Hicks
Pete Pearson
Reg Price DFC, 625 Squadron vet
Submission by John Proctor, Jack Albrecht and Nic Lewis.
JA 08-09-2019