AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
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.
Check our Research databases: Database List
.
We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron
03.02.1945 440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron, RCAF Typhoon Ib PD497 Fg Off. John F. Warrell.

Operation: Armed Recce in Nijmegen-Bocholt area, Netherlands/Germany

Date: 3rd February 1945 (Saturday)

Unit No: 440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron, RCAF, 143 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force

Type: Typhoon Ib

Serial: PD497

Code: I8:K

Base: ALG B.78 Eindhoven, Netherlands

Location: Near Dingden, Germany

Pilot: Fg Off. John Francis Warrell J38833 RCAF Age 20. KiA

REASON FOR LOSS

On the 3rd February 1945 four Typhoons took off at 09:20 hrs from B.78 Eindhoven detailed on an armed recce mission in the Nijmegen-Bocholt area in Netherlands and Germany.

Flt Lt. William Donald Barber J16822, who was leading the sortie described the circumstances of the loss of PD497 and Fg Off. Warrell:

“I was leading four aircraft, in which Fg Off. Warrell was flying Red 4, on an armed recce in the Bocholt area. The weather was rather bad with an occasional rain shower I was just about to give the order to return to base when I noticed a train on my starboard. We all went down and attacked. As I pulled up I saw an aircraft just over the target two flicks rolls and hit the ground and blow up. None of us noticed any Flak. I returned to base and reported the accident”.

A German Army casualty report recorded that a Typhoon crashed near Dingden on the 3rd February 1945 at 09:30 hrs. The remains recovered were identified as those of Fg Off. J.F. Warrell, Canadian J38833, who was buried on the 6th February 1945 in the cemetery at Dingden.

Dingden is some 7¾ km (5 mls) due south of Bocholt.

His remains were recovered from the Dingden Cemetery and laid to rest at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery on the 16th January 1947.

Burial details:

Fg Off. John Francis Warrell. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery 11.C.17. Inscription: "YOUR MEMORY HALLOWED IN THE LAND YOU LOVED". Born on the 25th June 1924 in Wroxeter, Ontario. Son of James Hyndman and Gladys Ruth (née Dixon) Warrell. Husband of Elizabeth Ann (née Pletch) Warrell, of Teeswater, Ontario, Canada.

Researched by Ralph Snape and dedicated to this pilot and his family.

Other sources as quoted below:

RS 22.08.2023 - Initial upload

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
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 MWO 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', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, 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.
Click any image to enlarge it

 Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024 Last Modified: 22 August 2023, 05:37

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor