This street is named in memory of Flying Officer Charles Robert Loft.
Charles Robert Loft was born in London, ON where he grew up on Baseline Road. He attended South Collegiate where he played high school football, winning the city championship in 1941. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942 and completed aircrew training in Canada as a bomb aimer. Soon after, he was transferred to No. 76 Base, a training establishment in the UK, supporting several heavy conversion units. On 12 March 1945, after completing his conversion training on Lancaster bombers, he was assigned to 419 Squadron RCAF. On the night of 13-14 April 1945, his crew left their airfield at Middleton St. George for their fourth operational mission, a raid on Kiel Germany. Something went terribly wrong during their mission and the aircraft failed to return to base. Examination of Luftwaffe records make no mention of a Lancaster bomber being attacked by German night fighters making it difficult to determine the location of the crash site. By a twist of fate, this aircrew were the last airmen lost to 419 Squadron. With the war soon ending, the squadron’s last sortie was on 25 April and by 9 May, they were making preparations for their return to Canada.
With no known grave, Flying Officer Charles Robert Loft is memorialized on the Runnymede Memorial.
