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Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
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RNAS Blackcap Seafire XVII SX315 Sub/Lt. Byers, RNAS Blackcap, accident

Operation: Training

Date: 12th July 1946 (Friday)

Unit: No. RNAS Blackcap

Type: Seafire XVII

Serial: SX315

Code: -

Base: RNAS Blackcap, Stretton

Location: Irish Sea, off Blackpool

Pilot: Sub-Lieutenant James Watt Byres RNVR Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

The pilot was carrying out low level manoeuvres near to Blackpool pier but the aircraft hit the sea and Sub/Lt. Byres, then aged 20 was killed.

It was reported that his parents had been on holiday in Blackpool at the time.

Above: grave of the pilot with plaque commemorating those killed at RNAS Blackcap

Burial details:

Sub-Lieutenant James Watt Byres. St Cross Churchyard, Appleton Thorne. The son of James Watt Byres and Janet Davidson (née Wedderburn) Byres of Aberdeen, Scotland. Grave inscription reads: "Life Is All The Finer That He Lived And All He Loved More Sacred For His Sake".

Researcher Mike McQuaid for Aircrew Remembered - January 2019.

MM 29.01.2019

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Acknowledgements
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Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and Captain François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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