LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Karlo CALLOW
Service No: 414197
Born: Brisbane QLD, 3 November 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 1653 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Chedburgh
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1653 Conversion Unit Stirling aircraft LJ445), near Chedburgh, 20 January 1944, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Hugh and Lena Callow, of Teneriffe, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 20 January 1944, Stirling LJ445 took off from Chedburgh for a night cross country flight: Base – Land’s End – Dulverton – Reading – and thence to Goole before returning to Base. The crew acknowledged their landing instructions but at 2326 hours the Stirling ploughed into trees 400 yards south south west of Hargrave Rectory, a few miles north west from the airfield. Seven of the crew were killed and two died of their injuries. It was believed the Pilot under instruction was at the controls and may have become disoriented by the airfield’s lighting system.
The crew members of LJ445 were:
Flight Sergeant John Percival Bartington (1386260) (RAFVR) (Pilot under instruction) Fatally injured, Died: 21 January 1944
Flight Sergeant John Karlo Callow (414197) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Reginald Hallam (545834) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Samuel Graham Johnson DFC (416502) (RNZAF) (Instructor Pilot)
Warrant Officer II Robert David Poe (R/133538) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant William Herbert Spibey (1579969) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) Fatally injured, Died: 21 January 1944
Sergeant Richard Joseph Teague (1523709) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Frank Tempan (1263973) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Alfred John Wood (1158339) (RAFVR) (Rear 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, 166/7/401