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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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440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron
02.02.1945 440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron, RCAF Typhoon Ib PD493 Fg Off. Gerald L. Passmore.

Operation: Bombing mission in Dülmen area, Germany

Date: 2nd February 1945 (Friday)

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

Type: Typhoon Ib

Serial: PD493

Code: I8:F

Base: ALG B.78 Eindhoven, Netherlands

Location: NW of Coesfeld, Germany

Pilot: Fg Off. Gerald LeRoy Passmore J35987 RCAF Age 21. KiA

Above: Fg Off. Gerald LeRoy Passmore (Courtesy of www.veterans.gc.ca)

REASON FOR LOSS

On the 2nd February 1945 eight Typhoons took off at 09:30 hrs from B.78 Eindhoven detailed on a rail-cutting bombing mission in the Dülmen area in Germany.

They encountered both heavy and light Flak and whilst Fg Off. Passmore was strafing a locomotive from 300ft his Typhoon was hit by Flak which severed the tail section and he was killed when his aircraft crashed and burned in a farmers field NW of Coesfeld in Germany.

An investigation by the Missing Research and Enquiry Service (MR&ES) located the farmer who had witnessed the crash and confirmed the date and time. He and a farm labourer had removed the airman’s body from the wreckage and was instructed by the German authorities to make suitable arrangements for his burial and convey the body to Coesfeld.

Fg Off. Passmore’s identity was confirmed by the Chief of Police of Coesfeld and then was buried in Grave No. 4 at the St. Jakobi Cemetery in Coesfeld in a religious ceremony.

On the 14th April 1947 Fg Off. Passmore was recovered and laid to rest at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

Burial details:

Above: Grave marker for Fg Off. Gerald LeRoy Passmore (Courtesy of Wouter van Dijken-FindAGrave)

Fg Off. Gerald LeRoy Passmore. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery 12.D.16. Born on the 31st July 1923 of Hensall, Ontario. Inscription: "’TIS SWEET TO KNOW WE'LL MEET AGAIN AND THAT THE ONE WE LOVED HAS JUST GONE ON BEFORE". Son of John and Olive Pearl Zita (née Cann) Passmore of Hensall, Ontario, Canada.

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

Other sources as quoted below:

RS 20.08.2023 - Initial upload

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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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