BIGGS, Percival Frederick

NAME                    BIGGS          Percival Frederick
RANK                    Pilot Officer                                                                                                                                                                  British Commonwealth Air Training Plan                                                                              SQUADRON         No. 32 Operational Training Unit
                              Patricia Bay in British Columbia                                                                                              Born                      March 20, 1920 - Ottawa - Township of Nepean - County of Carleton                          Residence             Wingham - Ontario                                                                                                                  Died                      December 16, 1942          22 years   9 months
Cemetery              Wingham Cemetery - Wingham - County of Huron - Ontario
                              F 15
Parents                 Mr. Percy and Edith Biggs - Wingham                                                                                    Brothers                Daniel Biggs serving with the RCAF in Toronto                                                                                                         Donald Biggs living at home in Wingham

Percival was born in Ottawa on March 20, 1920. At some point his family moved to Northern Ontario and then to Wingham. The family would have attended Wingham United Church, St Andrews United Church in Cochrane and Powassan United Church. Growing up he had scarlet fever, measles and the whooping cough. He attended Cochrane Public School 1925-31, Powassan Continuation School 1931-33, Wingham Public School 1933-34 and then Wingham High School 1934-36 and left school at age 17. He enjoyed hockey, softball, tennis and swimming and his hobbies were hunting and fishing. He had been a member of the Militia with the 99th Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery from June 1940-August 1941. One out of school he worked for his father at the Biggs grocery store and prior to enlistment he worked for C. Lloyd & Son in Wingham 1938-41 on the layout bench and then operating a rip saw.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Canada                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Percy made a trip down to London on August 11, 1941 to enlist into the Royal Canadian Air Force and received the rank of Aircraftsman 2. At the time he was 5' 9" tall and weighed 141 pounds. He had a medium complexion with blue eyes and brown hair. For approximately 6 weeks he was assigned to the London Recruitment Centre. On September 26 he was ordered to No. 1 Manning Depot in Toronto. On that day he boarded a CPR train at      12:15 pm and arrived in Toronto at 3 pm.                                                                                                                  On January 17, 1942 he was posted to No. 1 Bombing and Gunnery School in Jarvis - Ontario. He was posted here until April 11 when his orders were to report to No. 3 Wireless School in Winnipeg - Manitoba. While here he obtained the rank Leading Aircraftsman. In the autumn on October 25 he was posted to No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School in Mossbank - Saskatchewan. While on the prairies he received the rank of Sergeant and his Air Gunner Badge on November 23. He also achieved the rank of Pilot Officer.

In the Field

On December 5 he was then posted to the BCATP with No. 32 Operational Training Unit based at Patricia Bay - British Columbia Pilot Officer Biggs was based at Patricia Bay located near Saanich and Victoria.
No. 32 OTU was formed after the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese, and an operational role was
adopted with patrols being done over the Pacific Coast of Canada. When it became clear that the Japanese
would not be attacking our west coast, it then became a training unit.
Pilot Officer Biggs and the rest of the crew left Patricia Bay at 09:30 am on December 16. Five other aircraft were also on this mission to photo reconnaissance up the Georgia Straits with the duration being about 3 hours. Due to the extreme weather all other aircraft returned to base. Anson N 9560 was engaged in navigation training exercises when it crashed 7 miles inland from Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The aircraft was flying low when it struck trees ripping the starboard tail plane off of the aircraft and then crashing into very dense timber. Pilot Officer died instantly from multiple fractures of the skull and multiple body fractures. At the time of the crash the weather conditions were adverse. There was 60% cloud cover – visibility was 6 miles and the fog ceiling was 0 to 500 feet. The route was predetermined for this training mission, but even so the search did not locate the aircraft and it was not until March 29, 1943 when the aircraft was located. The search area was Sidney – Cassidy – Parksville – Blubber Bay – Powell River – Stillwater and back to Sidney.
The family in Wingham received a telegram on March 30, 1943 telling the family that the remains of Percy had been recovered and removed from the aircraft. He had been sitting on the left of the aircraft directly behind the pilot.                                                                                                                                                                        The instructions were to map read along the coast until they reached Parksville and then the navigator was to initiate courses until the square searches had been completed and Blubber Bay was located. They would then map read from Blubber Bay to Stillwater and then to base. They were to fly the course set out by the Navigator. The crew was told not to fly in the clous or above the clouds and were strongly cautioned about the heights of land they would be dealing with. They were to fly at 1,000' and not below 500' with the exception being the leg from Stillwater back to base and this was to be flown at 500'. In addition the Wireless Operator which was Pilot Officer Biggs was to keep in radio contact with base once per hour and if contact was lost return to base immediately.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  In the month of October 1943 Mrs. Edith Biggs received the Memorial Cross and at a later date the family received the War Medal and Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.

Percy is honoured and remembered on the Wingham Cenotaph and possibly on the Cochrane - Ontario Cenotaph. He is honoured and remembered on the Memorial Plaque of Wingham United Church and possibly on the plaque of St. Andrews United Church in Cochrane. He is honoured and remembered on the Memorial Plaque of F.E. Madill High School. He is honoured and remembered on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and in the Books of Remembrance which are located in the Centre Block of our Canadian Parliament. He is also honoured and remembered at the British Columbia Aviation Museum under General Information and war time casualties.