LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Arnold CHAPPELL
Service No: 415118
Born: Owen SA, 13 December 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1941 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 102 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JD128), Germany, 31 August 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Louis Stephen and Ivy Winifred Chappell, of Buckingham, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Lake Grace WA
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
Halifax JD128 took off from RAF Pocklington at 0025 hours on the night of 30/31st August 1943, detailed to bomb Monchengladbach, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in the target area and all the crew were killed.
The crew members of JD128 were:
Flight Sergeant John Arnold Chappell (415118) (Pilot)
Sergeant Geoffrey Lee (921759) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant John James Jones (1319384) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Savukevitch (1558937) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Ernest Ian Smallfield (404116) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Leonard George Smart (1324892) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Donald Zander (R/115850) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
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, 166/7/189