LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Wilbur Henry CHAPMAN
Service No: 417157
Born: Peterborough SA, 26 May 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 514 Squadron (RAF), RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 514 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DS824), Netherlands, 22 January 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Hindeloopen Protestant Churchyard, Friesland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel and Harriett Chapman; husband of Isabel Jean Chapman, of Dawson, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Dawson SA
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On the night of 21 January 1944, Lancaster DS824 took off from RAF Waterbeach at 1956 hours, detailed to bomb Magdeburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in the Ijsselmeer (Zuider Zee) Netherlands, and all the crew members lost their lives.
The crew members of DS824 were:
Flight Sergeant Wilbur Henry Chapman (417157) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Donald Frank Henshaw (151014) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant James Richard Keenen (1570038) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Ernest Allan Lane (932746) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Noel Millis (1334196) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Arthur Pratt (914246) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer John Kenneth Williams (161058) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/7/395