Remembering World War II

Name: Charles Douglas Stevens Rank: Pilot Officer Service Number: 42273 Service: 76 Squadron, Royal Air Force Date of Birth: 1917 Place of Birth: Chatham, New Brunswick Address at Enlistment: Hantsport, Nova Scotia Marital Status: Married Date of Death: December 11, 1939 Age: 22 Cemetery: Uxbridge (Hillington) Cemetery, England Grave: Row K.D. Grave 26. Commemorated on Page 602 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on December 21 and 22 Charles Douglas Stevens was the son of Walter George (1877-1949) and Edith Mary (Burgess) Stevens (born in 1833), of Armdale, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. His parents were born in England. He married Elsie Mabel MacLean on February 4, 1939 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His enlistment date is unknown but Charles was appointed Acting Pilot Officer on probation June 10, 1939 (recorded in the London Gazette June 30, 1939) and then graded as a full Pilot Officer November 18, 1939 (recorded in the London Gazette, December 12, 1939). From the outbreak of WWII, up to April 8, 1940, 76 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was based at RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire, England, and performed an operational training role as Group Pool Squadron. On the afternoon of December 11, 1939, Pilot Officer Charles Douglas Stevens made his first solo flight in a Handley Page Hampden bomber. He carried out solo circuits and landings in Hampden I P1267 but then became lost. In the failing light, the Hampden crashed into a tree at Horsenden Manor, Princes Risborough, 6 miles South- South-West of Aylesbury, Buckingshamshire, England. The machine was a total wreck and the pilot was killed. It was the first fatal accident of the squadron in the two years and nine months since re-forming at RAF Finningley on April 12, 1937. Stevens was the first Nova Scotian to die overseas during the Second World War.

Charles Douglas Stevens

Sources: photo:© IWM CH 3478 aviation-safety.net Canadian Virtual War Memorial