Hello, my name is Selma, Daphne's daughter. The details about Clifford are as follows -
Squadron Leader CLIFFORD CHARLES JOHN BOWYER (Pilot).
Service No: 118812.
13-14 May 1943
15 Squadron.
Stirling III BK704 LS-Z.
Op. Bochum.
Crew.
S/L. C C J. Bowyer +
P/O. D C. Smith. pow.
Sgt. H C. Cooper. pow.
F/O. W G M. Olivier. RCAF. pow.
Sgt. J B. Craggs. pow.
Sgt. T P. Hanrahn. pow.
Sgt. E E. Warner. RCAF. pow.
Sgt. C E. Keik. pow.
Took off 0014 hrs Mildenhall. Coned (caught in serachlights) at 11,000 feet and hit by flak. Exploded and crashed 0130 hrs at Barlo 6 km NNE of Bocholt, where S/L. Bower was buried on 17 May. His grave is now in the Reichwald Forest Cemetery. At 21 he was one of the youngest Squadron Leader pilots killed on bomber operations in 1943.
Here's a bit more. In 2011 there was a thread on another forum (WW2 Talk) regarding airmen from County Wicklow. One of the respondents posted the Chorley info as above and then later on this was posted:
"My father Sgt. Charles Edward Keik was the rear gunner in this Stirling. LS-Z, serial BK704.
He was the last one to get out of the plane - S/L Cliff Bowyer told all the crew to bale out and sadly went down with the plane. All surviving crew members were POW's. My father retired from the RAF in 1973 and retired to New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand.
A Dutch family (Peter & Wim Rhebergen) from towns on the German border (Winterswjk & Aalten) have researched and catalogued information on many WW2 aircraft that came down nearby and published a book with a Chapter covering each incident. The amount of detail in each chapter varies for each crashed aircraft, after contacting as many surviving crew as possible.
They had traced and contacted my father in NZ who gave them some additional details. In May 1984 when he came back to UK on a family visit we visited the Dutch family who took us to the crash site, the farm (1Km away) where my father was captured and the war grave of Cliff Bowyer.
They told me that they had contacted several of the crew and Cliff Bowyer's two sisters in Ireland, during research for their book. I was born in September 1943, 4 months after the plane was shot down. But for the heroism of Cliff Bowyer in staying with the aircraft until all the crew had safely baled out, I may never have known my father ! Peter Keik"