LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Claude MAPLETOFT
Service No: 420022
Born: Armidale NSW, 1 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 224 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Milltown
Died: Air Operations: (No. 224 Squadron Liberator aircraft KG964), off the Swedish Coast, 26 February 1945, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest and Annie Mapletoft; husband of Catherine Mapletoft, of Elgin, Morayshire
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 282, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2207 hours on 25 February 1945 Liberator KG964 took off from Milltown to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in the vicinity of the Swedish coast. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take- off, and it did not return to base. The remains of one crew member was washed ashore at Varberg, and in 1948 the remaining ten crew members unaccounted for were recorded as missing lost at sea.
The crew members of KG964 were:
Sergeant Maurice George Bliss (1881845) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Gilbert William Carter (1899789) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Leslie Anwyl Chadwick (J/95233) (RCAF) (Second Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Dafydd Cynfal Davies (2209857) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Joseph Leo Gallipeau (R/195678) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air) Remains recovered
Flight Sergeant Ronald Hadlow (1802151) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Cyril Jackson (658750) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flight Lieutenant Claude Mapletoft (420022) (First Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Murphy (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flying Officer Reginald William Ponting (144782) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John James Williams (1064874) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/27/798
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996