Richardson, James Patrick

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Personal Information

Rank F/S
Forename(s) James Patrick
Surname Richardson
Gender M
Age 22
Decorations
Date of Death 14-07-1942
Next of Kin Son of Major William Augustus Richardson, R.C.A., and Barbara Molyneux Richardson (née Ashford-Dash), of Comox, British Columbia, Canada.
RICHARDSON JP

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington IV
Serial Number Z1341
Markings QT-L

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Brookwood Military Cemetery
Grave Reference 32. G. 10.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 90

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/58721
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 1
Squadron 142
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

James was born on 10 June 1920 at Comox, British Columbia. His father had worked as a Civil Engineer and was born in Victoria, British Columbia and was shown as Officer Commanding Survey Wing, Canadian Artillery Training Centre at Petawawa Military Camp. His mother was born in England at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey and had lived at Wimbledon Park, London. His mother later divorced and married a W.G. Travis. James went to both a Private school, St. Michael’s in Victoria, London, England, as well as the Public Nelson school at Comox B.C. between 1926- 1934 (Jnr. Matric). He also attended Comox High between 1934 and 1938 (Snr. Matric) His main sport interest was golf but he also enjoyed fishing and shooting occasionally. His hobby was to study.
James enlisted on 12 September 1940 and after training was posted to the U.K.. He arrived at 3PRC on 29 June 1941 and then went to 12 OTU on 3 July 1941 and arrived at 142 Squadron on 10 October 1941. Sadly James was to lose his life from there on 14 July 1942.
His father died on 29 August 1945 at the age of 54. He had been awarded the Military Cross.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Click here to view

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/973/14
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/973/13

Fellow Servicemen

Hazelgrove J C (Sgt)
Hunt E S (Sgt)
Maunders T V (P/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 13-07-1942
End Date 14-07-1942
Takeoff Station Grimsby
Day/Night Raid Night (0% moon)
Operation Duisburg
Reason for Loss Crashed not long after take-off at Diss in Norfolk. It is believed the aircraft was intending to land at Honington

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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.