Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Provided to VWMA for publication by “Historical Unrecovered War Casualties – Air Force”.

Pilot Officer John Leonard SURMAN, O32537, was born in Sydney on 12 May 1929, and attended Canterbury Boys’ High School 1941-1944 and achieved intermediate certificate. He was employed with Phillips Radio and commenced studies with Sydney Technical College but was transferred to Adelaide (Torrens Park) and continued his Radio Engineering studies at School of Mines. He enlisted 25 Feb 1948 as Air Cadet at RAAF College Point Cook and Graduated as Pilot on 11 Dec 1951. He was posted to 77SQN Korea arriving 06 Apr 1952 and commenced operations on 24 Apr 1952. He was later listed MIA believed killed on 9 June 1952, age 23. He was awarded US Air Medal.

Mission Summary
Pilot Officer John Leonard SURMAN, Service No: O32537, DoB: 12 May 1929, MIA 9 June 1952, LKP TOKYO GRID YC5484 latitude and longitude 38 40 52N 125 55 24E.

On 09 June 1952, Pilot Officer Surmanwas part of a four meteor aircraft formation tasked with conducting armed reconnaissance on road South East of P’Yongyang. During the transit phase, truck were sighted travelling south on road approx. three miles East of Hwangju. There is some conjecture of target as post action reporting indicates that the road was approx. 6-8 miles from Hwangju. The formation attacked the vehicles and on his second run PLTOFF Surmanwas seen to hit the ground in front of one of the vehicles. The aircraft subsequently exploded and disintegrated, there were no signs of PLTOFF Surmanejecting nor could he be contacted by radio. It is unlikely that PLTOFF Surman survived the impact.