Date:	Saturday 4 April 1942
Time:	16:45
Type:	Consolidated Catalina Mk I
Owner/operator:	413 (Tusker) Sqn RCAF
Registration:	AJ155
MSN:	QL-A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 9
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Location:	360 miles south of Ceylon -   Indian Ocean
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Koggala
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The crew had just arrived in Koggala, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on the 2nd, this was their first mission after resting from the trip from the UK. Aircraft took off at 00h52 on a search for enemy shipping. At 16h30, when approximately 360 miles from base, they found a large enemy naval invasion fleet containing several aircraft carriers, heading for Ceylon. The immediately reported its position, speed and heading. The pilot tried to hide in cloud banks while the wireless operator sent the critical information, but multiple enemy naval fighters managed to shoot down their lumbering Catalina which finally ditched. 1 crewman died during the aerial fight, 2 were strafed in the water by fighters, the other 6 were picked out of the water by the Japanese destroyer Isokaze and later interned in Japan for the duration of the war.
The warning sent by this aircraft and its valiant crew enabled allied forces to be prepared for the enemy attack which was successfully repelled. Winston Churchill would later hail the pilot, S/L Birchall, as “the Saviour of Ceylon”.
Crew:
Pilot: C/775 S/L L.J. Birchall OBE, DFC (RCAF) – POW
Co-pilot: 64878 P/O P.N. Kelly (RAFVR) - POW
Navigator: R/69853 W/O G.C. Onyette (RCAF) - POW
Flight Engineer: 570179 Sgt B. Catlin (RAFVR) – POW
Flight Engineer: 1127620 Sgt W. Cook (RAFVR) - POW
Wireless Op/Air Gunner: 627748 Sgt F.C. Philips (RAFVR) - POW
Wireless Op/Air Gunner: 812318 Sgt L.A. Colarossi (RAFVR) - Killed
Wireless Op/Air Gunner: 972081 Sgt I.N. Davidson (RAFVR) - Killed
Rigger: 641447 Sgt J. Henzell (RAFVR) - Killed

AIR81/1375
The National Archives UK
RCAF Losses 1942
Archives Canada
CASPIR
RCAFA Awards datanase
413 Sqn wartime records ORBAT from hitorical microfilms
Personnel files of both RCAF crew members
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Canadian University
Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
https://aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=AJ155&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Aug-2020 10:30	Nepa	Added [Operator, ]
05-Jun-2022 15:53	Ron Averes	Updated [Location, ]
01-Nov-2025 19:28	tachel	Updated [Time, Cn, Phase, Source, Narrative, ]