Branch of Service

Air Force

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

16/05/1941

Place of Enlistment

Melbourne, Victoria

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

12/12/1911

Place of Birth

Surrey Hills, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Ainslie ACT (also given as Elwood Street, Surrey Hills, Victoria)

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

Son of William and Mary Bellman of Surrey Hills, Victoria and husband of Myra Victoria Bellman of Mont Albert, Victoria.

Burial Place

Berlin (Heerstrasse) British Military Cemetery, Germany; grave 17, row J, plot 7

Service Number

40597

Final Rank

Flight Sergeant

Final Unit

44 Squadron RAF

Died 4 September 1943 aged 31 years, killed in action over Germany

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 118, Canberra ACT
St. John the Baptist's Church, Canberra, Roll of Honour and Book of Remembrance

Norman Bellman arrived in Canberra in 1937 after passing the clerks exam for the Public Service - he had previously worked for the PMG in Melbourne. He boarded in Ainslie and worked as a clerk in the Department of Trade and Customs and was a parishioner at St. John's in Reid. Throughout the period 1937 to 1941 his name appears regularly in The Canberra Times as a prominent tennis player and he served in administrative roles with the Territory's Tennis Association.

Bellman initially enlisted as a clerk in the RAAF in May 1941 but was mustered as air crew in December 1941. He trained as an air observer and bomber and embarked for the UK in November 1942, travelling via Canada and reaching England in December 1942. Bellman joined 44 (Rhodesian) Squadron of the RAF in August 1943 with the rank of Flight Sergeant. He flew in two sorties over enemy territory in a Lancaster bomber but on the third flight on the night of 3/4 September 1943 his plane crashed in Germany. The bodies of the crew were buried in the Prisoners of War Cemetery at Neuruppin (about 40 miles north west of Berlin) but were later interred in the British War Cemetery in Berlin.

Description - height 5 feet 10.25 inches, weight 158 pounds, chest 34-36.5 inches, fair complexion, hazel eyes, medium hair, Church of England.

WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
The Canberra Times - 17 January 1940, 4 September 1946
AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
NAA RecordSearch - Series 9301