John Benjamin Gravelet-Chapman               Updated: 09 MAR 2021

Airman: a002002.htm Surname: Gravelet-Chapman Init: J B Rank: Wt/O Service: RCAF Sqdn: 428

P_link: p364.htm Plane: LAN KB709 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Sea 10 km off Anholt

Crash_d: d300844 Buried_d: b110944 C_link: c002.htm At_Next: Anholt

Den 30. august 1944 styrtede LAN KB709 i Kattegat 10 km SV for Anholt under bombetogt til Stettin, se p364MACR. Flyvehistorisk Tidsskrift skriver:

"KB709 lettede fra Middleton St. George kl. 21.19, og næsten 4 timer senere styrtede flyet brændende i havet sydvest for Anholt.  Nedstyrtningen blev observeret fra Anholt, men på grund af voldsomme luftkampe måtte eftersøgningen af mulige overlevende vente til daggry. Den blev dog forgæves, og i de følgende
måneder drev ligene af 6 besætningsmedlemmer i land på Anholt (3) og ved Falkenberg (3) i Sverige."
(FT 91-6-38)  

Warrant Officer Class I (Air Bomber) John Benjamin Gravelet-Chapman, 25 år var fostersøn af
pastor P. Wilfrid Chapman og Laura Chapman, Saanichton, Britishz Columbia, Canada. (Kilde: CWGC)

3 flyvere fra LAN KB709 blev begravet på Anholt og 3 i Falkenberg i Sverige. 1 har ingen kendt grav.
Se Lancaster fotos og Operation 30 AUGUST 1944 - ruter og tab. 7 flyvere.

On 30 August 1944 LAN KB709 crashed in the Kattegat 10 km SW of Anholt on a bombing raid on Stettin, see p364MACR. (Danish) Aviation Historical Review writes:

"KB709 took off from Middleton St. George at 21:19, and nearly 4 hours later it crashed burning into the
sea southwest of Anholt. The crash was seen from Anholt, but due to heavy aerial battles the search for possible survivors had to wait to dawn. It was in vain and the bodies of 6 members of the crew drifted
ashore on Anholt (3) and at Falkenberg (3) in Sweden." (FT 91-6-38)

Warrant Officer Class I (Air Bomber) John Benjamin Gravelet-Chapman, 25, was the foster son
of the Revd. P. Wilfrid Chapman and Laura Chapman, of Saanichton, British Columbia, Canada.
(Source: CWGC) "We give thee but thine own"  His name is engraved on the
Memorial Wall at the BC Museum of Canada. The Canadian Virtual War Memorial has this.
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 2, P172.

3 airmen from LAN KB709 were buried on Anholt and 3 in Falkenberg, Sweden. 1 has no known grave.

See No. 6 Group and the Canadian Squadrons*No. 428 (Ghost) Squadron RCAF*428 Squadron Association*No. 428 Squadron RCAF*Operation 30 AUGUST 1944.
See also Lancaster Photos * Lancaster - Bomber Command Museum of Canada * Avro 683 Lancaster Mk X - IWM Duxford *  Lancaster-Wikipedia *  LAN-HAL
Lancaster X KB709 NA-G took off from RAF Middleton St. George at 21.19 hrs on 27 AUG 1944. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.)  7 airmen.