The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (412697) Flying Officer Colin Robert Moore Richardson, No. 630 Squadron (RAF), Second World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (412697) Flying Officer Colin Robert Moore Richardson, No. 630 Squadron (RAF), Second World War.

412697 Flying Officer Colin Robert Moore Richardson, No. 630 Squadron (RAF)
Flying battle 9 April 1945

Today we remember and pay tribute to Colin Robert Moore Richardson.

Colin Richardson was born on 15 January 1922 in Mendooran, a small town by the Castlereagh River in the Warrumbungle Shire of central western New South Wales.

Colin’s father, Robert, had served with the 2nd Australian Field Artillery Brigade during the First World War, and after returning home received land at nearby Tottenham as part of a soldier settlement scheme.

After establishing the homestead of “Niloc”, Robert died when Colin was just eight years old, leaving Colin’s mother, Viola, to raise him and his two sisters, Nancy and Ivy.

Colin Richardson grew up to work as a grazier, but in September 1940, at the age of 18, enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve. The following year he was called up, and on 20 July 1941 he enlisted in the RAAF.

After initial training school at Bradfield Park, in December he attended elementary flying training school at Narromine, and then prepared for overseas service.

As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who, throughout the course of the war, joined Royal Air Force squadrons or Australian squadrons based in Britain.

Leaving Sydney on 24 April 1942, Richardson arrived in Canada almost a month later. He attended service flying training school in Dauphin a city in Manitoba. In October, Richardson left Canada, arriving in England in November 1942. After a period with an advanced flying unit in Shawbury, in March 1943 he attended flying instructor’s school, and in May joined an advanced flying unit.

In September 1944 he joined No. 27 Operational Training Unit in Lichfield, and in mid-March 1945 he was posted to No. 630 Squadron. Located at RAF East Kirby, No. 630 Squadron carried out strategic bombing roles in Lancaster bombers

Around three weeks after joining his new unit, on the afternoon of 9 April 1945, Flying Officer Colin Richardson was the pilot of a Lancaster which left East Kirkby to attack oil facilities at Lützkendorf in Germany. After a quiet flight with very little enemy opposition, the aircraft encountered heavy flak over the target. Richardson’s Lancaster dropped its payload and turned for home.

Soon afterwards the wireless operator, Flying Officer William Forrester, received a signal to say that fog had closed down their home base and that they had to divert to another airfield. Not long after 3 am, the aircraft flew low over a road north of Market Harborough in England – then hit the top of a hill above council houses near Scraptoft. The aircraft crashed and burst into flames, hurling wreckage and burning fuel across the footpath leading into the park at the centre of the village.

All members of the crew died in the accident: Flight Sergeant Herbert Burton, Flight Officer Robert Martin, Sergeant Bernard Gibbons, Flight Officer William Forrester, Flight Sergeant Anthony Bowman, Flight Sergeant Frederick Howlett, and Flight Officer Colin Richardson, who was just 23 years old.

Colin Richardson was buried at Botley Cemetery in Oxford under the inscription chosen by his grieving family: “His duty nobly done. Dearly loved by mother and sisters.”

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flying Officer Colin Robert Moore Richardson, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section