Michael Bruce Alsbury

RAF Warrant Officer: William Thomas "Bill" Alsbury. Killed in action over Wasserliesch, Germany at 00:48 hrs, shot down by record holder Ace pilot Major Heinz Wolfgang Schnauffer during return trip to England on night bombing mission near end of WW2.

Grandfather's Topley British Columbia Mining Group. Topley British Columbia. (Approx 1928)

RMS Missanbie, 1914 Steamer converted for troop transport during WW1.

W.T. Bill Alsbury RAF 156th squadron Avro Lancaster Bomber PB209. 12 August 1944. Wasserloesch Germany. Photos from the Michael Bruce Alsbury family records collection.

One of the steamships the transported Uncle Dave's 29th battalion during WW1.

On joining the airforce, he trained as a wireless operator/air gunner, doing his radio training at Yatesbury followed by the gunnery course at RAF Kinloss in Scotland. His first tour of operations (normally twenty five flights over enemy territory) was with a Wellington squadron before returning to Yatesbury as an instructor. He then went on to complete a second tour (normally twenty operations but in this instance it may have been more) with a Lancaster squadron based in the Doncaster area, before another spell of instruction. His third tour, which was extended to 30 operations, was with 156 Squadron, flying Avro Lancaster bombers. 156 Squadron formed part of the Pathfinder Force, and was one of the squadrons whose job it was to mark the enemy target for the main force. This was an exceptionally dangerous mission which involved remaining over the target area for some time dropping marker flares.

It was on just such an operation on the night of 12th/13th August 1944 following a raid deep into the Ruhr Valley industrial area, that Lancaster PB209 (coded GT-E) went missing, shot down after only eighty-three flying hours since its arrival with the squadron in July. It was also Bill's 97th operational flight.

George, son of George Munday and Jane Thompson, was born in England about 1862.

A.T. "Tom" Alsbury & Elizabeth A.M. Windsor 15-July-1959, Royal visit to Vancouver, B.C.

Mark & Carol SIemens, Hudson's Hope, B.C.

Wiilliam Aberhart C. Bennett Dam, 610 feet tall, 6,562 feet long & 2,625 feet thick at the base. The Williston Lake resevoir 67 cubic kilometers, the equivalent of 27 million olypic swimming pools. Williston Lake is fed by the FInlay & Parsnip rivers. There is an average of 4.7 million gallons of water flowing through the Bennett dam per minute. The Bennett spillway desighned to handle excess water can release 2.4 million gallons per second. Construction began in 1961, by 1968 the project was completed. My mother, June (Taylor) Alsbury's cousins worked on the Bennett Dam project during 1960's construction, her cousins remained in Hudson's Hope B.C. working as trappers until their subsequent deaths, 1st brother died in the late 1990's followed by the other brothers death in the early 2000's. Mark & Carol (Alsbury) also resided in Hudson's Hope during the 1980's for Mark's job posting with the Fish & WIldlife department.

Mt. Morgan IOOF Lodge, Mt. Morgan Cemetery, Mt. Morgan mine, Mt. Morgan, Queensland Australia, Alsbury family archives.

David Aeson Alsbury World War 1 records from the Michael Bruce Alsbury family records archives.

Alsbury Military records WW1

David Aeson Alsbury, Mount MOrgan Queensland Australia. Michael Bruce Alsbury family records collection.