Sergeant Ernest Bramwell Blair of Portadown, Co. Armagh was an air gunner with Royal Air Force 578 Squadron at the time of his death on 15th February 1944.
Sergeant
1796405
Sergeant Ernest Bramwell Blair (1796405) served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. Known as Bramwell, he was the son of the late John Blair and Martha Blair of 12 Carleton Street, Portadown, Co. Armagh.
Before joining the Royal Air Force, Bramwell had served alongside Samuel Joseph Clayton in the Air Training Corps at No. 1829 Squadron Headquarters, Portadown Technical College.
Sergeant Blair died on 15th February 1944 while serving in R.A.F. 578 Squadron. He was an air gunner on Handley Page Halifax III LW557 LK-Q when the crew took off from R.A.F. Burn, North Yorkshire, England for a night-time raid over Germany. The raid on Berlin comprised 891 planes, the largest attack on Berlin and the largest non-1000 bomber raid of the Second World War. Blair’s Halifax came down, possibly due to an engine failure near the village of Tribohm in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany.
Mrs. Blair, Carleton St., Portadown has received notification that her son, Sergeant Bramwell Blair R.A.F. has failed to return from an operational flight. Sergt. Blair, who entered the R.A.F. through the Portadown A.T.C. Flight and was a member of the local Salvation Army Corps has taken part in a number of the heavy raids on German war centres.
He has no known grave and his name is on Panel 225 of the Runnymede Memorial, Egham, Surrey, England. His name is also on the Portadown War Memorial, Portadown, Co. Armagh. His name is also on a family memorial at Seagoe Cemetery, Portadown, Co. Armagh.
