LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Colin Mervyn CLAREY
Service No: 426312
Born: Melbourne VIC, 10 September 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: Campaign against Oil (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND913), Netherlands, 21 July 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Papendrecht General Cemetery, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander William and Clarice Leila Clarey; husband of Ida Vivian Clarey, of Graceville, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ND913 took off from RAF Witchford at 2330 hours on the night of 20/21st July 1944, detailed to bomb a synthetic oil plant at Homberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at 0145 hours on the 21st July at Papendrecht (Zuid-Holland) on the north bank of the De Merwede and opposite Dordrecht and all the crew were killed.
The crew members of ND913 were:
Flight Sergeant Charles Alfred Barlow (427790) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Colin Mervyn Clarey (426312) (Pilot)
Sergeant Douglas Hancock (1337513) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Samuel Edward Kirkland (1581273) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Edward John Line (1579769) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Herbert Charles Luton (542814) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Arthur Walter Middleton (1569017) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/7/572