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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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coastal command
12th January 1944 9 (Coastal) OTU Beaufighter VIC T5277 Fl/Sgt. Aislabie

Operation: Training

Date: 12th January 1944 (Wednesday)

Unit: No. 9 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit. 17 Group

Type: Beaufighter VIC

Serial: T5277

Code: -

Base: RAF Crosby-on-Eden, Cumberland

Location: Shaw Hill, Dumfriesshire

Pilot: Fl/Sgt. Herbert Clement Aislabie NZ/424404 RNZAF Age 23. Killed

Nav: F/O. Albert John Mabey 151263 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at about 11:45 for a training sortie, a practice QGH (course to steer), veered off track after a w/t failure in poor weather and flew into cloud-covered Shaw Hill, 3.5 miles west of Langholm, Dumfriesshire at 13:05 hrs. Both crew died.

Burial and personal details:

Fl/Sgt. Herbert Clement Aislabie. Chester Cemetery (Blacon). Sec A Grave 500. Born on the 31st July 1920 at Te Kuiti, Waikato. Prior to service worked as a fitter/turner for Berry Engineering Works Ltd. In the territorial army for a year before enlisting in the RNZAF on the 02nd May 1942. Embarked for Canada on the 31st October 1942. Pilots badge awarded and promoted to sergeant on the 02nd April 1943. On the 28th January 1943 embarked for England. Joined 9 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit. on the 14th September 1943. Son of Clement Gilbert and Eileen Frances Myrtle Aislabie (née Bernard), of Palmerston North, Wellington, New Zealand. A total of 386 flying hours logged.

F/O. Albert John Mabey. Bitterne Churchyard (Holy Saviour). Plot 4. Row 15. Grave 24.Son of Hedley John Richards Mabey and of Mary Mabey (nee Pratt), of Bitterne Park, Southampton. Grave inscription: From Earth's Confinements He Has Sped To Heaven's Unbounded Countryside.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Jenifer Lemaire and to the extensive research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Library Heritage Collection, AWMM, other sources as quoted below:

KTY 21-04-2021

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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.
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