Geoffrey Bertrand Chapman – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 10 Operational Training Unit

Pilot Officer Geoffrey Bertrand Chapman – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 10 Operational Training Unit

Birth and Family Background

Geoffrey Bertrand Chapman

Bertrand James Chapman and Edith Gladys May Sheppard marriage certificate St Michael’s Church, Bishopston, Bristol

Geoffrey Bertrand Chapman was born in 1918 at Swansea, the son of Bertrand James Chapman and Edith Gladys May Sheppard, who had married in 1911 at St Michael’s Church, Bishopston, Bristol.

1921 Census

By the time of the 1921 Census, the family were living at 13 Pinewood Road, Swansea, where Geoffrey, then aged three, was the only child in the household. His father, Bernard J. Chapman, aged forty and born in Bristol, was employed as a structural engineering draughtsman with Rees & Kirby Ltd., Engineers of Morriston, while his Bristol‑born wife, Edith, aged thirty‑four, kept the home.

Military Service

RAF Abingdon, Berkshire

Geoffrey served with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, attached to No. 10 Operational Training Unit, where he held the rank of Pilot Officer. Based at RAF Abingdon, Berkshire, he was undergoing advanced training on the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V, preparing for operational duties at a time when Bomber Command relied heavily on OTUs to produce fully trained crews for front‑line squadrons.

Loss Without Trace

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V

On the day of his final flight, Geoffrey’s Whitley took off from Abingdon at 10.45 a.m. for a bombing practice and cross‑country navigation exercise following the route Abingdon – Worcester – Strumble Head – Bardsey Island – Jurby – Great Ormes Head – Ludlow – Abingdon. The aircraft failed to return and was lost without trace over the Irish Sea, the circumstances strongly suggesting that it came down somewhere along the western leg of the route. No wreckage or survivors were ever recovered, and the fate of the aircraft remains unknown.

Geoffrey Bertrand Chapman
Runnymede Memorial
credit - findagrave

Commemoration

Pilot Officer Chapman’s name is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, which honours airmen who have no known grave. He is remembered alongside the rest of his crew: Sergeant Frank Henry Baldwin, Pilot Officer Allan Bridson, Sergeant David Carnegie Craig, Sergeant James Orr, and Sergeant Walter James Savage, all of whom were also lost without trace.

South Wales Daily Post

Local Reporting

Geoffrey’s death was reported in the South Wales Daily Post in October 1941, ensuring that news of the tragedy reached his home community in Swansea and that his service and sacrifice were publicly acknowledged.