Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

One of four brothers who served in WWII, Flight Lieutenant Hugh Gordon Oates OBE (Service No:427053) had served with the Federated Malay States Volunteers and Malayan Volunteer Air Force (Sergeant/Pilot) from 1935 before enlisting in the RAAF at No 4 Recruiting Centre Perth on 2 April 1942 as an Aircraftman II - mustered as Air Crew. Commissioned as Pilot Officer on 1 November 1942, Flying Officer on 1 May 1943 and Flight Lieutenant on 1 November 1944, he was attached to 55 OBU Birdum and No 2 Squadron Hughes NT, and as Flying Instructor at Hudson Squadron, where he was described by the OC as 'willing to fly at all times and gets good results from his pupils' (NAA). Flight Lieutenant Oates' flying experience included Gypsy Avron, Anson, Miles Majester, Moth (Major, Minor and Hornet), Hudson, Ventura and Beaufort aircraft. Flight Lieutenant Oates was attached to R/S Canberra at Discharge on 6 October 1945.

Hugh was born in Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia in 1911, fifth of six children of William Henry Oates (b1871 in Clunes, Victoria) and Eliza Fenton Simmons (b1873 in Armidale, New South Wales). William travelled to the Western Australian Goldfields in the early 1890s, and was a Miner in 1897 when he and Eliza married in Coolgardie. They lived in Boulder, where William was a Miner and had moved to Perth by 1904 - William was a Wood Merchant in Subiaco. The family returned to Boulder by 1915, and William was a Miner in 1917 when he enlsited in the AIF. Following his Discharge, William and Eliza settled in Albany, where William - an 'Incapcitated Soldier' (he was gassed in France) - died in 1924.

Hugh started work in Perth as a Motor Mechanic, and in the 1930s worked for Wearne Bros Ltd Singapore as a Motor Engineer, travelling between Singapore and Fremantle regularly, and serving with the Malay Volunteers. In 1940 in Singapore, Hugh married his first wife Edna Louie Summers (b1912 in Perth, Western Australia) - Edna was a Dental Technician in Perth. Edna settled in Perth during Hugh's service in the RAAF. Following his Discharge in 1945, Hugh resumed work as an Engineer in Singapore, and in the 1957 New Years Honours 'Wing Commander Hugh Gordon Oates, Malayan Auxiliary Air Force' was made on Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Hugh and Edna divorced, and in 1959 in Singapore, Hugh remarried to Dorothy May Bridges (b1913 in Cranbrook, British Columbia) - Dorothy, a Business Administrator working in Singapore, had served in the Canadian Women's Army Corps in WWII. Hugh and Dorothy settled in Mount Pleasant in Perth, where Hugh was a Director. Hugh died in 1990 and Dorothy in 2008.