LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Colin Bernard CRABBE

Service No: 420453
Born: Suva, Fiji, 8 February 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 11 Personnel Disposal and Reception Centre, RAAF Overseas Headquarters
Died: Air Raid, Bournemouth, 23 May 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Bournemouth North Cemetery, Hampshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Bernard and Myrtle Evelyn Crabbe, of Suva, Fiji.
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Flight Sergeant Crabbe (a Pilot) was killed on 23 May 1943, when off duty at Bournemouth. About 10 Fw190s attacked Bournemouth at 1250 hours on the 23rd May with bombs and machine gun fire. Direct hits were obtained on a number of buildings. Seven RAAF pilots all off duty were killed in the raid. One was shot when walking in a park, and the other six were killed when a building was demolished by a direct hit from a bomb.

The RAAF Members killed during the raid were:

Flight Sergeant Colin Bernard Crabbe (420453)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Franklin Fenton (412938)
Sergeant Neal Morton Gray (420618)
Flight Sergeant Allan John Kerrigan (420681)
Flight Sergeant John Francis McMahon (409848)
Sergeant George Arthur Mills (33250) Killed in a park
Flight Sergeant Vivian Lewis Pope (416993)

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 A 705, 166/8/125

Book Now Book Now