Sergeant James Hastie McMaster (552682) served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Born in 1922, he was the son of Alexander McMaster and Isabella Annie Stewart McMaster (née Munro) of Burton, Staffordshire, England.
A brother Robert Munro McMaster was born in Glasgow Lanarkshire, Scotland on 5th January 1927. Another sibling, John Munro McMaster was also born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland on 4th June 1931. Both of McMaster’s parents died before the outbreak of the Second World War. Isabella passed away on 7th November 1932 aged 37 years old. At the time, she lived at 17 Cranbrook Drive, Maryhill, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Alexander died on 28th January 1938 aged 44 years old.
He was a Wireless Operator / Air Gunner with R.A.F. 226 Squadron. His squadron flew 14 Fairey Battles to Sydenham Airfield, Belfast on 27th June 1940. They had sustained heavy losses during the Battle of France and had reassembled in Belfast from Brest, France.
James died on 23rd October 1940 aged 18 years old as a result of wounds sustained in an aviation incident the previous day. Fairey Battle P6601 came down in bad weather on high ground near Cushendall, Co. Antrim. Pilot Sergeant Peter Frank Morris (754457) died at the scene.
James Hastie McMaster’s grave is in Glenalina Extension, Section AS, Grave 89 of Belfast City Cemetery, Belfast.