Operation: Rhubarb (see abbreviations)
Date: 05th December 1942 (Saturday)
Unit: No. 132 Squadron
Type: Spitfire Vb
Serial: AB369 (1)
Code: FF-?
Base: RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, England
Location: North Sea of Veurne, Belgium
Pilot: P/O. Arthur Dickens Chiddenton J/16337 RCAF Age 20. Missing - believed killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
During a Rhubarb in the afternoon of the 5th December it is believed that the aircraft was shot down by flak. Understood to have crashed into the North Sea off the coast of Belgium. Rhubarb was the codename for a low level attack against a ground target of opportunity: they were not planned and the attacker had little or no information of the weaponry available to the target he was trying to eliminate.
(1) Spitfire AB369 first flew on the 30th December 1941, built at Eastleigh and powered by the RR Merlin 45 engine.
Burial details:
P/O. Arthur Dickens Chiddenton. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 100. Son of Sydney James Chiddenton and Phoebe Barbara Chiddenton, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Trained at No. 5 Service Flying Training School, Brantford, Canada - Course 41: October 26th 1941 - January 15th 1942 after training at No. 12 Elementary Flying Training School.
Researched for Terry Perusse, who contacted Aircrew Remembered November 2016. P/O. Chiddenton was his grandfathers cousin - dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to sources as quoted below:
