HISTORICAL CONTEXT

He was a crew member in Albemarle P1442, 42 Operational Training Unit, Royal Air Force (RAF).

Operational Training Units did not usually fly combat mission but due to the demand for crews to support the Normandy invasion they were called upon to volunteer for sorties. They took off from RAF Hampstead Norris, Berkshire in the early hours of 6 June 1944.

Their mission was to drop 'window', strips of aluminium foil deployed to confuse German radar, as part of the Operation Bodyguard deception operations on D-Day.

They were designed to simulate an invasion force approaching Pas de Calais and Cap d'Antifer in order to keep potential German reinforcements in the Calais area, much further north than the real landings.

The aircraft is believed to have crashed near Caen but it was never found. He has no known place of burial so he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial to the Missing, Berkshire.