Date of death:

July 21st, 1944 (Papendrecht/Zuid-Holland, Nederland)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Graves Papendrecht
Plot: G. Row: 1. Grave: 9.

Service number:

426312

Nationality:

Australian

Flying Officer Colin Melvin Clarey RAAF, 30, pilot of Lancaster ‘Popeye’ on his 27th mission killed on 21 July 1944 in Papendrecht. He and the rest of the crew are buried in a special plot at Papendrecht General Cemetery.

The ‘Popeye’ of the C-flight of 115 Squadron RAF had taken off at 11.30pm from Withford airbase in Cambridgeshire, England. The aircraft was part of a formation of 147 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos with the aim of bombing oil installations near Bomberg. Popeye was the last aircraft in the formation. On its way back, the plane was probably shot down by a night fighter or possibly by FLAK, skimmed over the houses at Oosteind in Papendrecht and crashed in a meadow where it immediately exploded.

In 2002, the aircraft was recovered due to the construction of a residential area. In 2004, this monument was unveiled, incorporating one of the Lancaster's propellers and a granite block with the text: ‘We will remember them forever’.

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• Photo 1: Stichting Dorpsbehoud Papendrecht
• Photo 2: Jan de Jager
• - Logbook last page.
  - Logbook Colyn Mervyn Clearey.
  - Flying Officer Colin Mervyn Clarey | War Casualty Details 2635516 | CWGC
  - https://115squadron-raf.be/crews/ND 913/2010 THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE LANCASTER 2e versie fmmc.pdf
  

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