LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant John Charles MURPHY

Service No: 401182
Born: Rutherglen VIC, 3 May 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 January 1941
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bottesford
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5863), Nottinghamshire, 19 August 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Bottesford (St Mary) Churchyard, Leicestershire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph Henry and Elizabeth Agnes Murphy; husband of Norma Murphy, of West Preston Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Heidelberg VIC
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 0115 hours on 19 August 1942 Lancaster R5863 crashed at Normanton, 12 miles north east of Nottingham. It crashed while on a training flight practising overshooting procedures on three engines. All six crew members were killed.

The crew members of R5863 were:

Sergeant Alexander John Boyne (969690) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William Dundas Fordwych (591286) (RAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Denis Victor Morris-Edwards (117479) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant John Charles Murphy (401182) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Bernard Murray Smith (1216295) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Stanley Oswald Spicer (1181149) (RAFVR) (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, 163/146/167

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