LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Colin Deans CHAPMAN
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 43280 (RAF)
Born: Adelaide SA, 1921
Enlisted in the RAF: Acting Pilot Officer – 10 April 1940
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Hemswell
Died: Air Operations (No. 61 Squadron Hampden I aircraft P4396), North Sea, 14 November 1940, Age unavailable
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: No additional information
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 7, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Pilot Officer Chapman was an Australian Cadet accepted for training by the RAF who embarked for the UK on 12 August 1939.
Hampden 4396 took off from Hemswell to attack Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and is presumed to have crashed in the sea off Heligoland.
The crew members of P4396 were:
Pilot Officer Colin Deans Chapman (43280) (RAF) (Observer)
Pilot Officer John Graham Langford (42848) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Clarence Edward Russell (968588) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Sinclair (755604) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Chorley, W.R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 1 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1939-1940, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1992
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990