First names of Canadian airman

[78SqnHistory]

Can anyone help with the first names of R253995 SGT I K IRWIN? He served initially with No. 78 Squadron and then moved to No.35 Squadron in January 1945.

Any information greatly appreciated.

thanks
Daz

[Temujin]

Can anyone help with the first names of R253995 SGT I K IRWIN? He served initially with No. 78 Squadron and then moved to No.35 Squadron in January 1945.

Any information greatly appreciated.

thanks
Daz

You wouldn’t happen to know his air trade would you?? Bomb Aimer, Pilot, Nav, Engineer, AG ???? I’ve had a few “hits” looking but can’t seem to pin a name “yet”

[Temujin]

Found a record, not his names, but now we have a Location…….Como, Quebec………and we know he was an Air Gunner

New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 for I K Irwin
Date 1946 Jan 14
Queen Elizabeth

8F791BDA-C3D2-4A3F-9036-3539A3B4CC35.jpeg (450.17 KiB) Viewed 9402 times

[78SqnHistory]

Thanks for this, great detective work. Whilst his name still remains a mystery it does help with confirming the dates he returned to Canada. Can I ask where the document is from? Is it something I can search online?

Thanks
Daz

[78SqnHistory]

Thanks for this, great detective work. Whilst his name still remains a mystery it does help with confirming the dates he returned to Canada. Can I ask where the document is from? Is it something I can search online?

Thanks
Daz

Sorry, I should have told you. It came from Ancestry.ca or .com. Whenever I’m researching a Canadian, I always try Ancestry and put the country as United States and then look at the “emigration” section passenger lists. After the war ended, many of the Canadian’s returned to Canada via the “Queens” which usually docked in New York……..and so the passenger list were no longer kept secret…..so you can find the late 1945 and 1946 passenger lists on it………

This is ONLY is the docked thru New York. Ancestry doesn’t seem to have any of the Passenger lists thru Halifax of the “Queens” or any of the ships.


NOTE: if you know WHEN a Canadian “travelled TO ENGLAND” (the departure date or the arrival date)……I then check “Convoyweb” to determine the convoy or ship…….then I look at Heritage Canadiana under “Directorate of Movements” and look for the ship, and I can find the ‘passenger lists” for these ships……….its a “long slog” as these files have NO search engine, so you have to go page by page and each file has 4000 pages……so it does take time.

I’ve been slowly working thru the ships and making a updated list so you can find individual ships easier……but it is taking a lot of work, here’s an screen shot example of what I’ve been working on

3CBD5D6F-471B-40F8-9342-2F3FFF7785CD.jpeg (1.24 MiB) Viewed 9385 times

[78SqnHistory]

Many thanks, I’ll have a look on ancestry now. Hopefully I may be able to pick up a few others.

Thanks
Daz

[Temujin]

Daz………I know that you sometimes are searching for FIRST NAMES of Canadian crew who served with 78 Squadron

I can help with this IF……you have a list of names, and if you know “approx” when they sailed from Canada to England. I can then see if I can find their names on Passenger Lists of ships that may have sailed on that date or time period.

Just thought I would ask and give it a try for you

Cheers