LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer John Cyril COLLINS
Service No: 406772
Born: Birmingham England, 23 March 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 March 1941 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JA681), North West Europe, 3 September 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Philip John and Frances Elizabeth Collins, of Claremont, Western Australia. Champion Surfer
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 190, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster JA681 of 156 Squadron took off from RAF Station Warboys at 1948 hours on 3 September 1943, to carry out a bombing attack on Berlin. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. All the crew are missing and have no known graves.
The crew members of JA681 were:
Pilot Officer John Cyril Collins (406772) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Neil Howard Denyer (413552) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer David Laing Dodds (411243) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Tom Hoyle (47729) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Michael O’Meara Shanahan (412714) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Hume Melville Stafford (409485) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant George Wilson (522964) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 166/8/214
Bibliography:
Gaston, Bruce DFC (406646), Harry Horner DFC OAM (406595), Raymond Storer (406666) (Editors), Aircrew for the Duration: of and by members of RAAF EATS Courses 10, 11, 12 & 13, Gaston Horner and Storer, Nedlands WA, 1990