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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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414 Squadron crest
21.08.1943 No. 414 Squadron Mustang I AM160 F/O. Louis P. Theriault

Operation: Rhubarb (6)

Date: 21st August 1943 (Saturday)

Unit: No. 414 Squadron

Type: Mustang I

Serial: AM160

Base: RAF Ashford, Kent (Under canvas!)

Location: Paris suburbs, France

Pilot: F/O. Louis Phillip Theriault J/13595 RCAF Age 24. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

414 Squadron were mainly taking part in defensive patrols over the strait and the Channel during the month of August and September 1943. The period was however particularly successful for the unit with some 28 locomotives destroyed, 19 electric pylons, 5 tugs and barges. They also claimed 2 enemy aircraft destroyed with a further 2 as damaged.

During a rhubarb (6) operation over the Paris area during the late afternoon he attacked and shot down a Ju88 during a combat but his an obstruction and crashed.

No. 414 Squadron pilot line up - On the prop: Colin ‘Chick’ Davidson, On the wing:  F/O. Raymond Charles MacQuoid (1), Standing L-R: Gordon Zetterstrand, Fl/Lt. Miskelly, Bill Blakney, George Burroughs, Stuart Chapman, Charles Stover, F/O. Laurence Aloysius Doherty (2), David Bernhardt, F/O. Frederick Leroy Vaupel (3), F/O. Louis Phillip Theriault (4), F/O. Hugh Douglas Steeves (5). Seated: Fred Clarke, Jack Godfrey, Roy Begg, Jack Amos, Bod Sanderson (courtesy Christopher Clarke). 

Above, his grave as visited by his cousin, W/O. William Theriault in 2015.

Burial details: 

F/O. Louis Phillip Theriault. Reau Communal Cemetery, France. Son of James William and Mary Laura Theriault, of Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Christopher Clarke, W/O. William Theriault Canadian Armed Forces - cousin of the pilot who contacted us in July 2015. 

(1) F/O. Raymond Charles MacQuoid J/5801 414 Squadron - killed 01st April 1943.
(2) F/O. Laurence Aloysius Doherty J/7468 Killed 06th June 1943.
(3) F/O. Frederick Leroy Vaupel J7420 414 Squadron - killed 17th June 1943.
(4) F/O. Louis Phillip Theriault - This page.
(5) F/O. Hugh Douglas Steeves J/7474 414 Squadron - killed 27th March 1943.
(6) Rhubarb - operations when sections of fighters or fighter-bombers, taking full advantage of low cloud and poor visibility, would cross the English Channel and then drop below cloud level to search for opportunity targets such as railway locomotives and rolling stock, aircraft on the ground, enemy troops and vehicles on roads.

KTY 28.07.2015 Grave photo added

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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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