"Dulcimus"...We Lead
No.1723530, Flight Sergeant (Air Engineer), Hubert Leonard CORNWELL
Aged 21
Killed on Active Service on Friday, 17th December 1943
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Hubert Leonard Cornwell was born in Bottisham in 1922 (Newmarket Q3-1922 3B:748), son of Stanley and Ada Florence CORNWELL (née BUTLER).
He married Joan HACKIN of Swaffham Bulbeck in Q4-1942 (Cambridge 3B:1215).
In the 1939 register at Swaffham Road, Bottisham were his parents, Stanley CORNWELL[24-3-1892] a roadman (member of Cambs County Council decontamination squad); mother Ada F [7-2-1893]; brothers Stanley G [14-4-1920] a solicitor's clerk and Anthony B [1-11-1935] a scholar. There is one closed record. |
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His death was registered in St Neots Q4-1943 3B:408. Avro Lancaster Mk III, ser no JB369, c/sign LQ-D took off from Gransden Lodge at 16:47 on 16th December 1943 to bomb Berlin. 405 (RCAF) Squadron was the only Canadian Pathfinder squadron. On return to base they encountered thick fog and ran out of fuel, crashing at around midnight at Graveley, near Papworth Everard, only a few miles from base. Two other aircraft from the same squadron met the same fate that night, and others from 97 Squadron based at Bourn. Of the seven man crew, only WO Nutting DCM survived. Pilot- F/O Burus Alexander Mclennan (RCAF) ; Navigator- Walter Fitzgerald Sheppard (RCAF); Flight Engineer-F/Sgt Hubert Leonard Cornwell (RAFVR); Bomb Aimer-Gordon Raymond Schneider (RCAF); Mid Upper Air Gunner-Sgt Maurice Francis Roobroeck (RCAF); Wireless Op-Sgt Eric Halliwell (RAF); Rear Gunner, WO Clair Nutting DFM (RCAF). The Canadians are all buried in Cambridge City Cemetery, Sgt Halliwell is buried in Blackpool. photo courtesy Jennie Grey-The Path Finder Force and 97 Squadron www.raf-pathfinders.com   memorial near crash site   Hubert's headstone and the funeral in Cambridge of his Canadian comrades on 22nd Dec 1943
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
