LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Calder Fenton WOODBURN
Service No: 400301
Born: Gunnedah NSW, 15 September 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 August 1940 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 455 Squadron, RAF Station Wigsley
Died: Air Operations: (No. 455 Squadron Hampden aircraft P5235), off the French Coast, 3 April 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Louis Fenton Woodburn and Mary Kathleen Woodburn, of Black Rock, Victoria, Australia. Farmer and Grazier. Dookie Agr. College Dip
Roll of Honour: Black Rock VIC
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Hampden P5325 took off from RAF Wigsley at 1907 hours on the night of 2 April 1942 to carry out a gardening mission in the Quiberon Bay area off the coast of France. The aircraft was last heard from at 2338 hours in position 48.53N 05.57W, but it did not return to base. Ten aircraft from the Squadron took part in the mission and of these P5325 failed to return. Post war searches and enquiries found no trace of the missing aircraft or crew.
The crew members of P5325 were:
Pilot Officer John Edward Maloney (402376) (Pilot)
Sergeant Horace Edward Rowley (402611) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Calder Fenton Woodburn (400301) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Harry Neville Young (402629) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
W R Chorley records: It is believed that this was the first all RAAF crew to lose their lives flying under Bomber Command authority.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses of the Second World War, Volume 3 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1942, Midland Counties Publications, Leicester, 1994
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, 163/179/154