Joseph Paul Guy Marcel's Story.
Joseph was born on 28th November 1923 in Montreal to parents Raoul and Almeda and worked as a bank clerk prior to enlisting in the RCAF. His brother Oliva was listed as his next of kin when he enlisted in the RCAF on 27th January 1942 as both parents had passed away. He completed his training as an Air Bomber in Canada before sailing to UK where he arrived on 17th March 1943. He was assigned to 9(O) AFU at RAF Penros on 11th May 1943 before moving to 23 OTU at RAF Pershore on 8th June 1943 for operational training. He was killed, aged 19 years old on 6th August 1943 when the Wellington bomber BK430 that he was flying in on a training mission crashed in Shropshire due to an engine fire.The loss of Wellington BK430 of 23 OTU on 6th August 1943
While on a night training flight from RAF Pershore, the starboard engine was back firing, and shortly afterwards this engine caught fire in the air, and the fire rapidly spread. It appears that the pilot experienced engine failure at his exercise height of 10,000 feet, and came below the cloud base which was 2,500 feet to carry out a single engine forced landing and it was then too late for him to order any of his crew to abandon aircraft. The pilot failed to jettison his practice bomb load and finally crashed out of control near Badmington in Shropshire All six crew members were killed.
Crew
Pilot - R/131388 F/Sgt Joseph Paul Roland Labbé (RCAF)
Navigator: J/20892 P/O Nicholas Solomka (RCAF)
Wireless Op/Air Gunner: R/104805 WO2 Francois Cecilius Jean-Louis Thérien (RCAF)
Air Bomber: 1818726 F/Sgt Raymond Searston (RAFVR)
Air Bomber: R/145976 F/Sgt William Mckenzie Arril (RCAF)
Air Bomber: R/154021 F/Sgt Joseph Paul Guy Marcel De Bellefeuille (RCAF)
The cause of the engine fire was determined to be failure of the oil supply to the big end bearing of the master connecting rod. Joseph was buried at Blacon Cemetery in Chester along with the other RCAF crew members.
Accident Report 1
Accident Report 2
Report by 23 OTU
Letter from Bomber Command to families of deceased aircrew