Last Post - Flying Officer James Robert Harrison

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last post James Robert Harrison 433 sqdn rcaf

Source: http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers

Last post James Robert Harrison 433 sqfn rcaf grave marker harrogate UK

Above is an image from Canada Remembers of the James Robert Harrison Grave Marker in Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery in Yorkshire, UK. The inscription at the base reads " In my father's house, there many mansions."

Howard Cowperthwaite, 433 Squadron has kindly provided these images of the cairn erected in their memory on May 19, 1984.

Plaque on Cairn erected at Skipton on Swale

Image courtesy of Howard Cowperthwaite, 433 Squadron, Skipton-on-Swale

Skipton Cairn - this was their finest hour.

Image courtesy of Howard Cowperthwaite, 433 Squadron, Skipton-on-Swale

Image courtesy of Howard Cowperthwaite

Image courtesy of Howard Cowperthwaite, 433 Squadron

Pilot  Jim Harrison RCAF WW2

James Robert Harrison, a young pilot from Crossfield, Alberta joined 433 Squadron at Skipton-on-Swale in 1944. He was killed in a crash that also took the lives of another airman and a 5 year old boy. The crew were returning from a bombing mission that disabled their Halifax III.

The full crew and where they hailed from:
J21448 F/O James Robert Harrison RCAF pilot (K),

1624919 Sgt Dennis Lawson Whitbread Flt/eng (K),

F/O J F Kinder RCAF navigator (I), of Preston

F/O E T Widenoja RCAF bomb aimer (I), of Port Arthur

F/O L E Dufresne RCAF wireless operator (I), of Sturgeon Falls

F/Sgt R Bourne RCAF air gunner (I), 

P/O N S Godfrey air gunner (I)

Thanks to Richard Allenby for the above information on locations, and the photo of Pilot Jim Harrison.

Ops Report Aug. 5, 1944

172 Halifaxes from 408, 415, 420, 424, 425, 426, 427, 429, 431, 432, 433, and 434 squadrons were joined by 52 Lancasters from 408, 419 and 428 squadrons on an attack of a V-1 storage site at St. Leu D’Esserent. The crews were over the target at between 14,000 and 17,000 feet, releasing 2,553,000 lbs of high explosives. According to reports, bombing was good and damage was caused.  F/O J. Harrison RCAF and crew, flying Halifax III MZ-828 coded BM-H, returned on 3 engines. On their first attempt they overshot the airfield. On the second try, they lost control and crashed at Skipton Bridge. The pilot, F/O J. Harrison RCAFsmall poppy image and Flt/Engineer Sgt D. Whitbread, RAF small poppy image, were killed and the rest were injured.  JB note, Kenneth Battensby, age 5 was killed when showered with debris.

Source: www.rcaf.com. Click here to read the entire report.

The inscription on F/O Harrison's grave marker is a Per Ardua Ad Astra logo and beneath that

FLYING OFFICER

JAMES ROBERT HARRISON.

PILOT

ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE

5TH AUGUST, 1944

IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE

ARE MANY MANSIONS

(John 14:2.1)