Flight Lieutenant Colin McTaggart Shannon
Australian War Memorial415055 Flight Lieutenant Colin McTaggart Shannon, No. 76 Squadron (RAF), Royal Australian Air Force
Flying Battle 10 August 1943
Colin Shannon was born on the 13th of April 1918, the son of Pultney and Eva Shannon.
He grew up to work as a farmer at Nomans Lake at East Narrogin in Western Australia, but also spent a year as a clerk with Dalgety and Son.
Colin Shannon enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on the 23rd of June 1941. He began training as a pilot, attending elementary flight training school in Cunderdin, east of Perth, and service flight training school in Geraldton.
While at Geraldton, Shannon was found absent without leave for a few hours. His punishment for this breach of military discipline was being confined to barracks for three days.
Awarded his flying badge in March, Shannon embarked at Sydney on the 16th of June 1942, bound for overseas service. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, air gunners, and flight engineers who, throughout the course of the war, joined Royal Air Force squadrons or Australian squadrons based in Britain.
Arriving in the United Kingdom in August, Shannon continued training, and learnt how to apply his skills to new aircraft. In November, he transferred to No. 24 Operational Training Unit 1942. Based at RAF Honeybourne as part of No. 7 Group RAF Bomber Command, this unit trained night bomber crews.
In early June 1943, Shannon transferred to No. 76 Squadron, RAF. Then based at RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor in Yorkshire, and with a substantial number of Norwegian pilots and aircrew, No. 76 Squadron flew Handley Page Halifax four-engined heavy bombers.
In July, Shannon was the pilot of a Halifax detailed to attack Essen in Germany. When nearing the target, one of its port propellers was shattered and the engine caught fire. Despite this, Shannon and his crew went on to make a successful bombing run. Shannon would later be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this action. The wireless operator in his crew, Pilot Officer Ellis, was also awarded a DFC, having created an emergency aerial in order to re-establish contact with base and obtain bearings after the wireless aerials had been destroyed.
The following month, on the 10th of August, Shannon was the pilot of a Halifax returning from an attack on a target at Mannheim. At approximately 3:50 am, his aircraft crashed, having been hit by anti-aircraft fire at Aubegues, eight kilometres north of Boulogne. The aircraft burned furiously for some hours. All crew members were killed. They were:
- Flying Officer G. Turner
- Pilot Officer W. Ellis
- Sergeant T. Buchan
- Sergeant J. Smith
- Sergeant F. Walton
- Sergeant J. Dodson
- and Flight Lieutenant Colin Shannon, who was 25 years old.
Colin Shannon’s remains were buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, where they remain today.
His Distinguished Flying Cross was received by his mother in 1945.
