Geoff Chinchen
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Geoff Chinchen MBE, DFC |
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Autographed group portrait of some Air Force prisoners of war at the POW Campo PG 78 - Geoff Chinchen is on the left - Back row
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| Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Mount Gravatt |
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In office 1 June 1963 – 12 November 1977 |
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| Preceded by | Graham Hart |
| Succeeded by | Guelfi Scassola |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Geoffrey Talbot Chinchen 31 July 1915 Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 17 July 2005 (aged 89) Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Liberal Party |
| Spouse(s) | Heather Woolley (m.1946) |
| Occupation | Queensland Manager, Ford Motor Company, Fruit farmer |
| Religion | Church of England |
Geoffrey Talbot Chinchen MBE DFC (31 July 1915 – 17 July 2005) was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was also a member of the RAAF in World War Two who escaped from a German Prisoner of War Camp.
Chinchen was born at Elsternwick, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, the son of Cecil Talbot Chinchen, architect, and his wife Clementine Wilson (née Turnbull). He was educated at the Melbourne and Geelong Technical Colleges and then studied accountancy. He then worked for the Ford Motor Company as a salesman in Geelong.
In 1940 Chinchen joined the RAAF where he became a pilot trainer with the Empire Trainer Scheme and was based at both Wagga Wagga and Camden. He was posted to the Middle East as a fighter pilot with the No 3 Squadron and before long he was Squadron Leader. He was shot down and wounded in January 1942 but was back with his squadron two months later.
In June 1942 he was once again shot down, this time by enemy ground fire and was captured by Germans of the Afrika Corps. He was taken prisoner and placed in the custody of a German Meteorological Officer because everybody else was busy fighting the battle. Before long Chinchen met Field Marshal Rommel who, on hearing they had a captured Australian Pilot, asked to meet him. Chinchen recalls of the meeting, He was a very pleasant gentleman, and he asked me a lot of questions but, of course, I couldn't tell him anything. He then said: "For you the war is over", to which I replied: "I don't know about that", and he laughed. I saw him several times afterwards and on each occasion he spoke to me for a few minutes.
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