LEST WE FORGET
Squadron Leader Leslie Roy DAWSON
Service No: 260968
Born: 19 January 1904, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date unavailable
Unit: RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne
Died: Aircraft Accident (Netherlands East Indies Air Force C47A aircraft DT9-41), off Cairns QLD, 7 September 1944, Aged 40 Years
Buried: Cairns Cemetery QLD
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Alfred Haigh Dawson and Mary Eliza Dawson; husband of Edna May Dawson, of Bondi Beach, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Royal Newcastle Aero Club Roll of Honor, Rutherford NSW
On 7 September 1944, Squadron Leader Dawson, Administrative and Special Duties, a Liaison officer at NEI Headquarters Melbourne, was a passenger on NEI Air Force aircraft DT9-41 on a travel flight from Merauke, Dutch New Guinea, to Cairns, but the aircraft failed to arrive. It had signalled that the weather was very bad and last bearing on the aircraft was nine miles from Cairns. Searches were carried out for the missing aircraft but they were unsuccessful. The aircraft wreckage was found in January 1989, 73 km northwest of Cairns Airport.
On board DT9-41 were:
Crew
Flight Lieutenant Hermanus Jan Hendrik Daanen (RNetherlandsAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jacques Francois Damwijk (96914) (RNetherlandsAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Telegraphist Eugene Kerdijk (71322) (RNetherlandsAF) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Major (Administrative) Willen Adrianus Torn (96774) (RNetherlandsAF) (Second Pilot)
Passengers
Lieutenant Horace William Hammond Armstrong (WX10534) (Australian Army Service Corps)
Second Lieutenant Robert Evert Johan Boereboom (13620) (Netherlands Army)
Sergeant Marinus Boogerman (90510) (RNetherlandsN)
Flight Lieutenant Rudolph Theodoor Braakensiek (134821) (RNetherlandsAF)
Squadron Leader Leslie Roy Dawson (260968) (RAAF Headquarters)
Second Lieutenant Samuel Jacob (Netherlands Army)
Lieutenant Joseph Remy Louis Lebuea (RNetherlandsN)
Flight Lieutenant Hendrik Piet Levy (8767) (RNetherlandsAF)
Flight Lieutenant Otto Leyding (105120) (RNetherlandsAF)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Jan Salm (51722) (RNetherlandsAF)
Flight Sergeant Abraham Constantijn Scholte (36520) (RNetherlandsAF)
Sergeant Machinist Marrtinus Johannes Straub (8872) (RNetherlandsN)
Flight Lieutenant Bernard Van Aken (13620) (RNetherlandsAF)
Mrs Waas (Netherlands Civilian)
Mrs Wakemau (Netherlands Civilian)
Flight Lieutenant Jan Simon Zwart (RNetherlandsAF)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/9/395
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line