Norman Wilbur Ross

What makes reading about the deaths of World War II airmen from our region even more difficult is learning about all the other boys who died with them. While some airmen managed to survive crashes or parachute to safety, and others like Lloyd Kelly, Gordon Steeves or Robert Stockton were the sole casualties of the incidents which claimed their lives, the usual result of a bomber crash was the loss of all aboard. On Wellingtons, that usually meant five men died. On a Lancaster or a Halifax bomber, it meant seven men’s families were left to grieve.

The Halifax crash that claimed Norman Ross on November 29, 1942 was doubly tragic. Ross and his six mates were actually passengers being ferried aboard another crew’s bomber. When the aircraft crashed and burned a half mile east of Melmerby Village, Yorkshire, 14 sons, brothers, husbands and fathers were killed.

Flight Sergeant Ross was the son of James Wilbur Ross and Ethel Alice Ross of Moncton. Though just 22-years-old, he had been a scoutmaster before he went overseas to serve with 405 City of Vancouver Squadron. Ross is buried in England at Dishforth Cemetery in Yorkshire.