LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Edward Frank CHAMPNESS
Service No: 421858
Born: St Mary’s NSW, 20 August 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1942
Unit: No. 630 Squadron (RAF), RAF East Kirkby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 630 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB546), Germany, 23 May 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edgar Frank and Vera Champness, of St. Marys, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: St Mary’s NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of the 22/23rd May 1944, Lancaster JB546 took off from RAF East Kirkby at 2240 hours, detailed to bomb Brunswick, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed near Quakenbruck, Germany. Four of the crew members were killed and three became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of JB546 were:
Sergeant Edmund Adair (1083270) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Pilot Officer Edward Frank Champness (421858) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Peacock Craig Johnstone (1822545) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Leonard Jones (2209587) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Gerald Melbourne Naugler (J/92151) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Alan Leslie Pickering (1623919) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Vernon Stanley John Zucker (420792) (Navigator) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 December 1945
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/7/441