Son of Andrew James and the Hon. Mary Dreaver MBE, MLC, JP
He was killed in an aircraft collision.
At the time of his death, had flown 747 hours as an Air Gunner (planes were Vickers, Vincent, Westland Lysander, Hector, Halifax, Wellington (Merlin) II, Wellington (Pegasus IC) Fairy Gordon, Liberator, Manchester, Lamcaster Mark I & III, Oxford, Wellington IC.
He had completed 62 operational flights over Cologne, Kiel, Karlsruhe, Dortmund, Brest, Warship "Gneisenau", Sea searches for missing aircraft, Gibralter, Malta, El Fayum, Timimi, Matuba, Gazala, Benina, Berka, El Adem, Ships in Bay of Sirts, North Africa, Salamia, Parseus, Island of Rhodes, Dusberg, Dortmund, Essen, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, Bochum, Friedrickshaven, Gelsenkerchen, Spezia, Turin, Pilsen.
Remembered on the Takapuna War Memorial, The Strand, Takapuna.
Next of kin details compiled from information in the Casualty lists published in the newspapers. AWMM