Documenting the WWII Fallen of Toronto's Elementary Schools
John D'Arcy Langlois
D'Arcy Langlois was born in Vancouver on July 7, 1921. His father, John Dolor Langlois was born in British Columbia in 1892 to parents who hailed from Gaspé and he worked as a salesman for a broker. D'Arcy's mother, Neva Mildred Henry was born in 1901 in Michigan but her family moved to Vancouver in 1908. When she married on June 21, 1920, she was a stenographer. A Methodist, she married John in his Roman Catholic church. Although D'Arcy's RCAF paperwork states that he moved to Toronto when he was two, there is no evidence the Langlois family lived in Toronto until 1929, when they had an apartment at 60 Atlas Avenue, in the Oakwood/St. Clair neighbourhood. D'Arcy's Langlois grandmother moved to San Francisco in 1923 with her other children, so it is possible that D'Arcy spent his early years in California. He had a little sister, Neva Irene, known by her middle name, who was approximately four years his junior.
In his RCAF attestation papers, D'Arcy claimed that he attended Lambton Mills school from 1928, but the family lived on Atlas Avenue at least until 1932 and his mother stated that he attended Holy Rosary school near Bathurst and St. Clair. His family were the first owners of 25 Kingsgarden Road in 1934, one of only two houses on the street at the time. John had a good job as a salesman for Mead Johnson, the infant formula company. When Our Lady of Sorrows church was established in 1940, the family gladly joined the parish.
At least for Grades 7 and 8, D'Arcy did attend Lambton Mills and proved to be an impressive athlete, particularly in track and field. When he entered Etobicoke High School in 1936, he quickly became an asset to the school's team, which was very strong. In May 1937, at Etobicoke's track and field day, D'Arcy broke the school's intermediate record by running the half mile in 02:25.9. The next year he won the intermediate half mile again and the pole vault. A week later at the 1938 Toronto and District meet at the Exhibition grandstand, Etobicoke steam rolled its way to the shield for the highest number of points. D'Arcy won the intermediate half mile race that day.
In the cooler months, he played football and was eventually an outstanding player on Etobicoke's senior team. He also enjoyed rugby and was a member of the Toronto Ski Club.
His track and field efforts got him noticed and he attended the Ontario Athletic Commission's camp on Lake Couchiching in 1937, 1938 and 1939. At 1940's district meet held on Etobicoke's field, D'Arcy tied for the senior champion. The next year he was Etobicoke's senior champion, winning the 100 yard dash, the 220 yard dash, the quarter mile and the pole vault. At the district finals, he won the 220 yard dash and had the highest score on Etobicoke's team. On May 29, 1941, The Globe and Mail described a meet: “A tremendous burst of speed in the final quarter of the senior mile relay by D'Arcy Langlois enabled Etobicoke to capture the Upper Canada College relays, held yesterday afternoon at Upper Canada campus. Langlois was at least twenty yards behind John Crerar of Upper Canada when the final leg of the relay got under way. He made every stride a gain, it seemed, and breasted the tape a scant foot in front of Crerar.”
D'Arcy left Etobicoke in an athletic blaze of glory with his junior matriculation and immediately went to work at the Goodyear Tire factory on Lakeshore Boulevard in New Toronto. After New Year's 1942, he applied to the RCAF and enlisted on March 24. D'Arcy was the perfect candidate for the air force because it welcomed athletes and team sportsmen. He was hoping to be a fighter pilot and after the war he wanted to return to his job at Goodyear.
He began his military career on the Exhibition grounds where he'd triumphed at the Grandstand four years earlier. He went through basic training and on July 19, he attended the Initial Training School near Avenue Road and Eglinton for his academic courses. At the conclusion of the course, he was streamed to the pilot program at Goderich, Ontario in October. In between, he was given two weeks' leave before the course would start. Goderich, beside Lake Huron, flew Tiger Moth planes, providing the students with 50 hours of basic flying lessons. D'Arcy successfully completed the course on December 9 and was given leave until December 27 to spend Christmas with his family.
D'Arcy arrived in Centralia, 40 kilometres north of London, Ontario to start his next course. Here the base flew Ansons, a larger single wing plane which was easy to fly. The course was 16 weeks long. The first 8 weeks were intermediate training and then moved on to advanced training. On April 30, 1943, D'Arcy won his pilot's wings and was given two weeks' embarkation leave before reporting to Halifax on May 15 to await a ship to Britain.
Avro Anson, from Canada's Department of National Defence Archives.
He disembarked on June 4 and reported to the RCAF Personnel Reception Centre in Bournemouth, England, to await his posting. He was given leave from June 23 to 29 and like most of the newly arrived airmen, he probably spent it in London. He was assigned to No. 11 Advanced Flying Unit for pilots at RAF Finningley, now Doncaster Sheffield International Airport. Here he was taught courses to upgrade his flying skills to larger aircraft. It appeared that D'Arcy's dream of being a fighter pilot wasn't going to happen and he would fly bombers instead. The unit flew Oxford planes, a similar sized plane to the Ansons back in Centralia.
When the course ended in early October, he was sent to No. 17 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Silverstone, about 50 kilometres northwest of Oxford, to train on Vickers Wellington night bombers. Unlike other OTUs, which only trained RCAF crews, this unit was a multinational mix, mainly of RAF men with a smattering of other Commonwealth airmen. D'Arcy formed his crew and selected navigator Gilbert Alan Charlesworth, a married 27 year old Torontonian who had attended North Toronto Collegiate. The rest of the crew were most likely RAF members. The Wellington had a crew of five and had been the main night bomber of the Allies, although by late 1943, it was being replaced by the heavy Lancaster bomber.
On October 30, D'Arcy was promoted to Flight Sergeant. The crew completed their course in early January 1944. D'Arcy had completed 47 solo hours on the Wellington. He was given a leave on January 5 until the18th when he and his crew reported to RAF Winthorpe, in Nottinghamshire, where they would convert to the Short Stirling aircraft.
From airvectors.net.
The Stirling at this point in the war had been supplanted by the Halifax and Lancaster bombers. However, the Stirling was still used for mining German ports and it pulled gliders. The Mark III Stirlings at Winthorpe were configured for a crew of eight: pilot, navigator, wireless operator, air bomber, two gunners and two flight engineers. At Winthorpe it appears that D'Arcy's crew included Gilbert Charlesworth; wireless operator James Miller Robertson, a 28 year old Glaswegian; air bomber Edgar William Buckley, 20, from Orpington, England; English flight engineers Thomas Dunn, 19, and Leonard Frisby, 24; and air gunners Robert Nicholl, 19, from Glasgow and William Baird Thomson.
By April 11, D'Arcy had soloed for six hours on the Stirling. He and his crew were assigned a cross country navigation exercise and a bombing detail for later that afternoon. They would have a passenger, 19 year old English flight engineer William John Clifford Lowin, riding along to observe the flight. The mechanics knew that this Stirling's engines were susceptible to magneto drop-off. A loss of engine speed could occur when the magnetos switched. When D'Arcy did his pre-flight check that day, he was warned about that issue. He was ultimately satisfied with the behaviour of the engines during his last minute checks prior to take-off.
The Stirling took off at 1625 hrs and almost immediately the port outer engine caught fire. The plane flew for one or two minutes and at 2000 feet, D'Arcy steered the plane to port but it fell into a dive and crashed into a field east of the airfield at 1629 hrs. All nine men were killed instantly. The inquiry into the crash initially couldn't understand why the crew didn't abandon the Stirling when the fire was first seen. However, further investigation indicated that the crew was preparing to bail out, but the men were just too slow in doing it. Also, where the fire occurred wouldn't have been immediately detected. Apparently there was a failure in the engine's cylinder flange due to poor manufacture and it was recommended that the part be made of stainless steel, to prevent further accidents.
D'Arcy's grave, Harrowgate Cemetery. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
D'Arcy and Charlesworth were buried at 11 am on April 18 at Harrogate Cemetery in Yorkshire, England. D'Arcy's maternal aunt, Lieutenant Nursing Sister Isabelle Ireland represented the Langlois family at the funeral. A childhood friend of D'Arcy's from the Kingsway, Lieutenant Jack McCauley of the Canadian Navy also attended. When he and D'Arcy enlisted in the forces, the pair planned to have a reunion overseas, but sadly never managed to do so.
John and Neva continued to live at 25 Kingsgarden Road until 1959, when they moved to Rathburn Road in Etobicoke's Thorncrest Village. Neva passed away in 1974 and John followed the next year. D'Arcy's sister Irene named one of her sons D'Arcy.