Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Text submitted by Ian (Moose) GULLY

1 Squadron RAAF became the RAAF's inaugural Lockheed Hudson unit and deployed to Malaya to conduct maritime reconnaissance.  Whilst stationed at RAF Kota Bharu, near the Malaya-Thailand border and two days before the Japanese attack on Malaya, the Hudsons spotted the Japanese invasion fleet but, given uncertainty about their destination, were instructed to avoid offensive operations until attacks were made against friendly territory. Shortly after midnight, local time, on the night of 7/8 December 1941, the Japanese force started landing on the beaches at Kota Bharu, close to the airfield.  From about 02:00, No. 1 Squadron launched a series of assaults on the Japanese forces, becoming the first aircraft to make an attack in the Pacific War.  The Hudsons sank a Japanese transport ship and damaged two others for the loss of two Hudsons, an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbour.  Flt Lt Donald Dowie, from Adelaide, was the co-pilot in one of the downed Hudsons.  He was the sole survivor of the crash landing into the sea and was picked up by the Japanese some 2 nights after and became a prisoner of war and imprisoned in Changi, Singapore, and later was put to work on the Burma railway.  He was returned to Changi where he survived the rest of the war.  He was the first POW of the Japanese-Malayan Campaign.

The two engines from Flt Lt Dowie’s Hudson (verified by serial numbers) were recovered in 1976 by a fisherman.  The engines are now displayed in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

Dr. Donald Dowie was a past Director, Medical Services, Department of Social Services South Australia.

Dr. Dowie died in Adelaide 17 May, 2016, aged 98 years.