The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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261842 P/O. Roystyn Joseph Packer Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve No. 419 Squadron   Roystyn Packer and Dougie Cook crew, 419 Squadron RCAF My father, Roy Packer, joined the RAFVR in 1941 whilst working in a reserved occupation in Birkenhead. Following basic signals and Morse code training, he completed signals aircrew training in November 1942. Initially qualifying as a Wireless Operator, he was re-mustered as a W/Op-Air Gunner following completion of the air gunnery course at No. 1 A.G.S., RAF Pembrey in February 1943. From March to April 1943, he attended operational aircrew training at No. 2 O.A.F.U., RAF Millom, and from May to June at No. 23 O.T.U, RAF Pershore. He was posted to 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Topcliffe in July 1943 to qualify on the Halifax and, effective 1st of August 1943, to No. 419 Squadron, RCAF at RAF Middleton St. George, where he was a member of the Dougie Cook crew. His first operational sortie was on 8th of August 1943, and he went on to complete 29 missions (all with P/O Cook as pilot) before being screened from ops on 25th of March 1944 and transferred to Instructor duties. He was commissioned as Pilot Officer on 15 December 1943 and remained in the RAF after the war, serving overseas and across the UK and retiring as a Squadron Leader in September 1972. He never spoke voluntarily about his war service and even when asked, was of few words. The importance and significance of some of the targets he attacked would only be fully known after the war. He died in 1979 at age 64 following a long illness. Logbook Aug 1943 Logbook Sep 1943 Logbook Oct, Nov 1943 Logbook Dec 1943, Jan 1944 Adrian Packer Add to this record.  Related Content: No. 1 Air Gunnery School No. 2 (O) Advanced Flying Unit, Royal Air Force No. 23 Operational Training Unit No. 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit, Royal Air Force No. 419 (Moose) Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force RAF Pembrey RAF Millom RAF Pershore RAF Topcliffe Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.