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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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RAF Crest
10.04.1941 No. 1 PRU Spitfire I (PR) C P9307 F/O. Loasby

Operation: Reconnaaisance

Date: 10th April 1941 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit. Coastal Command

Type: Spitfire I (PR) C

Serial: P9307

Code: Not issued

Base: RAF Benson, Oxfordshire

Location: Ouessant

Pilot: F/O. Laurence David Loasby 36242 RAF Age 23. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from St. Eval in Cornwall at 07:50 hrs. on a Reconnaissance operation to Brest in France.

Understood to have been intercepted and shot down by Lt. Horst Ulenberg of 2./JG26 with the Spitfire coming down north of Ushant in the English Channel at 09:22 hrs. Neither his body or remains of the aircraft were found

Burial details:

F/O. Laurence David Loasby. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 30. Born on the 11th October 1917 at Wellington, the son of David Pell Loasby and Olive Frances Loasby (née Jenks), of Greytown, Wellington, New Zealand. Prior to service worked on his fathers Orchard. A total of 651 flying hours logged and completed 31 operatinal sorties.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:

KTY 14.08.2019

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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 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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