LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Colin Raymond HARPER
Service No: 402441
Born: Sydney NSW, 28 December 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940
Unit: No. 158 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Driffield
Died: Air Operations: (No. 158 Squadron Wellington aircraft W5525), Germany, 13 April 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter and Evelyn Catherine Harper, of Waverley, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Waverley NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2208 hours on the night of 12 April 1942 Wellington W5525 took off from Driffield to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed near Budberg, 9 kms north west of Duisburg and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W5525 were:
Sergeant Ralph Harry Crews (1162024) (RAFVR) (Second Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Graham Peter Elliott (104529) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Colin Raymond Harper (402441) (Observer)
Sergeant William Matchett Mahaffy (969454) (RAFVR) (Tail Gunner)
Squadron Leader Wilfred Morgan Protheroe (44779) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Frank Swinburn (991501) (RAF) (First Wireless 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/120/422