LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Staffa Kinloch CAMPBELL
Service No: 403023
Born: Mackay QLD, 24 June 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 353 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 353 Squadron Hudson aircraft FH281), Myanmar, 1 January 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Neil and Flora Campbell, of Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Column 430, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War II Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
At 0730 hours on 1 January 1943 Hudson FH381 took off from Dum Dum, India, to carry out an offensive shipping reconnaissance in the Bay of Bengal. The aircraft was due back at 1500 hours but it did not return from this mission. Following post war enquiries and searches, it was established in 1955 that the aircraft had crashed in a position about 2 and a half miles north from the village of Kaingshe, Burma (Myanmar). The inhabitants of the village stated that a plane had crashed in the vicinity, and they helped in establishing the exact spot, which was in dense bamboo jungle. Heavy yearly rains must have washed away the greater parts of the wreckage and only small fragments remained. Intensive searches for the remains of any of the crew were unsuccessful and it was presumed that the remains had been washed away. It was subsequently recorded that the graves of the missing crew had been unlocated after search.
The crew members of FH381 were:
Sergeant Staffa Kinloch Campbell (403023) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Maurice Pierre Massey (J/16224) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Robert Gerald Wheeler (1034197) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Ronald Wilson (1050944) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator 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, 166/7/9
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line