Joseph Lionel Ulderic Gerard's Story.
Joseph was born on 14th March 1924 in Montreal to parents Lionel and Marie. After finishing school he worked at a postal worker until 20th April 1942 when he enlisted in the RCAF. He completed training as an air gunner in Canada then sailed to the UK arriving on 24th June 1944. On 22nd August 1944 he was posted 22 OTU at RAF Stratford for operational training in Wellington bombers. On 20th November he was killed along with 5 other Canadian crew members when their aircraft, MF509 crashed into a hillside in Wales in bad weather. He was 20 years old when he died and was buried at Blacon Cemetery Chester and is commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial in Nanton, Canada.The Accident.
On the Monday afternoon of the 20th November 1944 the crew of MF509, were briefed for a navigation exercise on a dull and wet day. They took off from RAF Stratford at 19.26 hours to conduct the night-time cross country navigation training exercise along with two other Wellingtons, these were MF505 and LN460.
Shortly before 20.50 hrs They had flown into shower clouds and accumulated an ice layer. Unable to maintain height with this additional load and the Starboard engine failing causing problems with power, the crew sent a radio message asking permission to go below cloud as they were having problems maintaining height. Permission was granted.
As they descended over the mountains of the Brecon Beacons their aircraft flew into the Southwest slope of Carreg Goch and carried on up the slight hill, breaking up along the way until finally coming to a stop and finally bursting into flames.
The alert was raised soon afterwards when the radio calls from control went unanswered. With the help of local people from Craig y Nos, the RAF rescue team reached the site that night to hopefully to rescue any survivors. Instead, all they could do was to recover the bodies.
Crew
Pilot Sgt Charles Hamel
Navigator Sgt Jules Robert Rene Villeneuve (substitute as usual navigator was sick)
Bomb Aimer F/Off William Joseph Allison
W/Op/Air Gunner Sgt Joseph Paul Ernest Burke
Air Gunner Sgt Arthur Grouix
Air Gunner Sgt Joseph Dusablon
Accident Form 1
Accident Form 2
Accident Form 3
Accident Form 4
Enquiry 1
Enquiry 2
Enquiry 3
Crash Site Memorial
Canadian Bomber Command Memorial