William Henry Baldwin
Photo courtesy of Don Baldwin (nephew)
405th insignia
with motto Ducimus ``We Lead``
Background Information
Born January 12,1910 William Henry Baldwin was a air gunner for the 405 sqadron of the RCAF.William was 5'9 and 160lbs. He grew up as the middle class son of Clayton Baldwin, the chief mechanic for the goverment printing bureau. He lived on 182 Fifth ave right across the street from Muchmor PS. He was a student at Glebe CI from 1922-1928 William was very active in tennis, witch he probably played at the Glebe community center just minutes from his house. He was a member of the catholic Church so we can assume he went to the Church of the Blessed Sarcament on Fourth ave.
Service Record
On June 28, 1940 William Henry Baldwin enlisted in the RCAF. He was described by his interviewer as "Very much above average in all respects - is taking air crew assignment through eagerness to serve." Showing us his motives to serve. As soon as July 1 ,1940 William was moved a manning station in Toronto Ontario, where he stayed in for until the 20th when he was moved his initial training in ST. Iverson. It was here that his BCATP (British Commonwealth Air Training Plan) training really began. he was stationed there for the 4 weeks and left to go to 908 Malton for air observer school then to Jarvis for Gunnery school. The total the observing and gunnery training was 18 weeks. while there he trained mainly in the Anson trainer plane. After this William was moved to one more gunnery school at Trois Rivers for 4 weeks before being moved to Halifax to be shipped over seas. William arrived in England and was put into the 405 bomber squadron. Conditions for Henry would have been bad up in the air. flack would be exploding all over the place. The Lancaster bomber (The Halifax's identical brother) had a max ceiling of 24,500ft at this altitude in a plane exposed to air exposed skin could stick to metal and oxygen masks had to be worn at all times. If you were sick and puked in your mask the vomit could freeze suffocating you. For William it would have been a big deal to be placed in the 405th. They were the first RCAF squadron to be formed over seas and the only pathfinder squadron in the entire RCAF. The British and Canadians flew their bombing missions at night to minimize the chance of being hit unlike the Americans that flew in the day. This meant that alot of accuracy was lost, as a pathfinder his squadron would go up and drop flares to help mark targets to help the other squadrons pinpoint targets. William flew in the Halifax bomber, the Canadian equivalent to the British Lancaster. In his time serving he took part in operation millennium (the bombing of the city of Cologne) . The first allied bombing raid with over 1000 planes (May 30, 1942).
Death and Commemoration
In late August of 1944 William Baldwin`s plane was shot down just outside of Zobbenitz Germany. His body was found 3 months later near the crash site hanging from a tree with skull fractures. His body was buried in Zobbenitz but later moved to the British War Cemetery in Heerstrasse, Berlin. His Grave is located Plot 6 Row F Grave 27. William died leading the way for the RCAF marking targets. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
(Anson trainer plane) (Halifax bomber)
n
(City of Cologne) Note : this picture was taken in 1945 a couple
years after operation millennium
but the damage is still there.
(Heerstrasse Cemetery)
-"Flight Ontario - BCAPT Schools." The Home of Flight Ontario. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. http://www.flightontario.com/bcatp-schools.htm
-Santor, Donald. Canadians at War. Scarborough Ontario: Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data, 1979. Print.
-Bombing of Cologne in World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012.
-"CWGC - Cemetery Details." CWGC - Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2012.
- Google Image Result for http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIProml7OgI/AAAAAAAAA4g/OqzF_OqGFkQ/s400/Waist%2Bgunners%2Bon%2BB-24.jpg." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. <http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=side+gunner+on+lancaster&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&biw=1024&bih=673&tbm=isch&tbnid=NuEXTdn1PjXHbM:&imgrefurl=http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2008/07/weekend-wings-25-air-gunners.html&docid=OU-_WEkQ6YgnjM&imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIProml7OgI/AAAAAAAAA4g/OqzF_OqGFkQ/s400/Waist%252Bgunners%252Bon%252BB-24.jpg&w=400&h=280&ei=Tg6kT_SEPOPA
Comments (2)
Rachel Collishaw said
at 8:43 pm on May 2, 2012
Great start - many spelling and capitalization errors - please revise before final submission.
Good works cited - need to put parenthetical citations in your text also. Great photo. May want to put in a pic of his house also.
Rachel Collishaw said
at 7:53 pm on May 6, 2012
Good inferences in the background section
Spelling: squadron, Trois Rivieres, FLAK - capitalization better
Excellent details of flying conditions, inclusion of Cologne - could put a link to Zobbenitz or find out some background research.
Parenthetical citations still missing
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