Branch of Service

Air Force

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

03/01/1941

Place of Enlistment

Melbourne, Victoria

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

15/11/1915

Place of Birth

Elwood, Melbourne, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

St. Kilda, Victoria

School(s) Attended

Telopea Park Primary School (1927-32)

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

Son of William George and Marianne Chapman, of Durville Crescent, Griffith, Canberra ACT (1939-41); husband of Nulma Helen Doreen Chapman, of Elwood, Victoria.

Burial Place

Body never recovered.

Service Number

401102

Final Rank

Sergeant Pilot

Final Unit

21 Squadron RAAF

Died 18 January 1942 aged 26 years, in flying battle, Malaya

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 101.
Singapore Memorial: Column 422.
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Forrest, Canberra. Screen in Warriors' Chapel, and chair.
Canberra High School Memorial Tablet.

Chapman grew up in Canberra and attended school at Telopea Park where he gained his Intermediate Certificate in 1931. He was living in St. Kilda in Melbourne and working as a clerk when he enlisted in January 1941. He had married the previous November. He graduated from Point Cook in June 1941 and after two months with 4 Squadron in Canberra he departed for Singapore on 10 October 1941 where he joined 21 Squadron. He served at RAF airfields at Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur in Malaya flying a Brewster Buffalo fighter (AN174). Known as the 'flying beer barrel' the Buffalo was a slow and cumbersome aircraft. On 18 January 1942 Chapman took off from the airfield at Sembawang near Singapore for operations against the Japanese. His plane is believed to have been shot down near the Muar River on the west coast of Malaya that afternoon. His body was never recovered.

The Singapore Memorial stands in Kranji War Cemetery. Kranji War Cemetery is 22 kilometres north of the city of Singapore, on the north side of Singapore Island overlooking the Straits of Johore.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. <http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/>
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
AWM Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour Circulars <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
Presbyterian Church of Australia. Church of St Andrew, Canberra. Form and order for the dedication of the memorial window and memorials in the Warriors' Chapel, Sunday, 14th November, 1948. Canberra, 1948
Barbara Petersen. Acts of faith: the story of the Church of St Andrews, Canberra. Gundaroo, Brolga Press, 2001 (p.60, 63)
Ross F. Rowe, 'The Building and Furnishing of the Presbyterian Church of St. Andrew's', 1992
Canberra High School. Unveiling of Memorial Tablet. Friday, 25th April 1947. [Programme]
Canberra High School. Roll of Honour 1939-1945. [Plaque in school]
Canberra High School. Albums compiled for student project researching names on School Roll of Honour.
Nauenberg, Miriam. Index to Telopea Park Primary School: Register of admissions 1923-1946. Typescript, compiled for the Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra.
Telopea Park Primary School: Register of admissions 1923-1946. Volume (a): Boys. Photocopy MS held by Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra.
ACT Electoral Rolls - 1939, 1941
The Canberra Times - 12 March 1941, 23 January 1942
NAA RecordSearch - Series A9301