Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

FLTLT Schaffer from RAAF Air Defence Headquarters Sydney was killed while flight testing Seafire aircraft PR228 near Barnawartha, Victoria (Seafire is the naval version of the Spitfire)

Son of Ernest Joseph and Ann Florence Schaffer

Husband of Lois Nancy Schaffer of Upper Hawthorn, Victoria

Flight Lieut. G.W. Schaffer, of Upper Hawthorn, was killed on Wednesday when his plane crashed at Barnawatha, near Albury.  Schaffer, who was doing duty with the Royal Navy, was flying a Seafire plane - a naval version of a Spitfire - and it is believed his machine hit a hill during bad weather.

NAVAL AIR PILOT
KILLED
Seafire Hits Hill at Barnawartha While returning to Sydney on Wednesday from Laverton, where he had been carrying out drop-tank trials, Flight- ieut. Geoffrey William Schaffer, of Upper Hawthorn, was killed in an air craft accident. He was on duty for the Royal Navy. The accident occurred at Barnawartha, 15 miles north-east of Chiltern, near Albury (N.S.W.). It is believed  that the Seafire, a naval version of the Spitfire, which Flight-Lieutenant Schaffer was flying, probably hit a hillside during bad weather conditions. Flight-Lieutenant Schaffer served in Spitfires in  the United Kingdom and in Hurricanes in Malaya, where he was shot down and wounded In combat with the enemy. He was a well-known cricketer before the war.