Name: Charles William Taylor Rank: Warrant Officer Class II (Air Gunner) Service No: R/160156 Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Air Force Unit Text: 550 (R.A.F.) Squadron Date of Birth: March 35, 1921 Place of Birth: Yarmouth, NS Date of Enlistment: April 1, 1942 Place of Enlistment: Toronto, Ontario Address At Enlistment: Toronto, Ontario Age at Enlistment: 20 Height: 5 feet, eight inches Weight: 140 lbs. Complexion: Dark Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Trade: Order Clerk Marital Status: Single Religion: United Church Next of Kin: Mrs. Frances Wagner (Mother) Yarmouth, NS Date of Death: January 2, 1944 Age at Death: 22 Cemetery: Cambridge City Cemetery (Cambridgeshire, England) Grave Reference: Grave 14350. The 111th name on the WWII list of the Yarmouth War Memorial Commemorated on page 458 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on October 2 Charles William Taylor was the son of Charles Adelbert Taylor and Fanny Pearl (Burgess) Taylor, of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. His father had died September 12, 1923 and his mother later married George M. Wagner. He attended South End Public School between 1926 and 1937 and Yarmouth Academy in 1937 and 1938. He was employed with National Drug and Chemical Company of Canada between 1940 and 1942. Warrant Officer Taylor completed training in Canada and disembarked in England on January 13, 1943. He was first assigned to 81 Operational Training Unit on March 2, 1943 and transferred to 18 Operational Training Unit on June 22, 1943. On July 30, he was assigned to 1667 Conversion Unit. With the introduction of new heavy bombers, the four-engined Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax, the Royal Air Force introduced heavy conversion units. The heavy conversion units began forming in late 1941, to qualify crews trained on medium bombers to operate the heavy bombers prior to an assignment to an operational training unit to gain experience before final posting to the operational squadrons. His next assignment was with 100 Squadron at RAF Grimsby on September 10, 1943 before transfer to 505 Squadron on November 25, 1943. 100 Squadron had been joined at the airfield, with the re-formation of 550 Squadron on 25th November. The squadron was made up mainly with the transfer of personnel from 100 Squadron “C” flight. With the majority of the personnel already having been operational on the Lancaster with 100 Squadron, 550 Squadron flew there first operational sortie the following night on the 26th. On the night of January 1 and 2, 1944 he was the Air Gunner of an aircraft, Lancaster I DV.345 detailed to attack targets in Berlin. The attack was successful but at 7:30 am on the morning of January 2, when just over the English Channel coast on the way to Base at RAF Grimsby, the aircraft crashed at Whaplode Drove, near Holbeachn n Lincolnshire and all the crew were killed. It was presumed that the plane had been badly damaged over the target area. Sources and Information: Commonwealth War Graves Commission Veterans Affairs Canada findagrave.com http://www.bcar.org.uk/1944-incident-logs