545

MP/NF (right aligned)
414646 : Sgt. James Allison McCONNELL.
MOTHER : Mrs. J.C. McConnell of Musselburgh, Dunedin.

Born at Dunedin on the 15th November 1920, James McConnell received his secondary education at the Otago Boys' High School and the Kings High School, Dunedin, between the years 1935-1938. At sport, his interests were rugby and cycle-racing. He took up the latter in 1936 and later became a member of the Otago Cycling Team in the N.Z. Championships at Wellington in 1940. His occupation was that of a commerical traveller, and he was employed by W. McConnell & Son, Dunedin.

Sgt. McConnell applied for enlistment in the RNZAF in aircrew in August, 1940 and eventually entered camp at Levin, on August 17, 1941. At the conclusion of his initial training he was posted to No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School, Taieri, and in November he proceeded to No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Wigram, where on December 12, 1941, he was awarded his flying badge, and a month later promoted to Sergeant. He embarked for the United Kingdom on 14th February 1942.

On arrival in England in March, Sgt. McConnell was posted to No. 6 Advanced Flying Unit, Little Rissington, Gloucestershire. While here he was attached to No. 1513 Beam Approach Training Flight, Honington, Suffolk, during May for a short course, returning to No. 6 AFU at its completion. In July he proceeded to No. 11 Operational Training Unit, Bassingbourn, Hertfordshire, for training on Wellington aircraft, and on September 23 commenced operational flights with No. 75 N.Z. Squadron, Mildenhall, Suffolk. The operations included mine-laying off the Frisian Islands and raids over the towns of Kiel, Cologne, Aachen, Krefeld and Osnabruck in Germany.

On the 25th October 1942 Sgt. McConnell was the captain of a Wellington aircraft which took off on air operations and failed to return to its base. The crew were classified as missing and later a communication from the International Red Cross reported that four New Zealand airmen had been buried in the English Cemetery at