LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer James DODDS
Service No: 402014
Born: Helensburgh, Scotland, 23 July 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 April 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 55 Squadron (RAF), Aqir, Palestine
Died: Air Operations: (No. 55 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z9588), Eastern Mediterranean, 12 September 1941, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Mary Harcus Dodds, of Concord West, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Column 245, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Concord War Memorial, Concord NSW
Brother of Pilot Officer David Laing Dodds (411243)
Blenheim Z9588 took off from Aqir at 0315 hours on an anti-submarine sweep from Beirut to 13 km east of the Suez Canal. A message was received at 0515 hours that the aircraft was on its return journey and then nothing further was heard.
The crew members of Z9588 were:
Flying Officer James Dodds (402014) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant James William Lucas (751653) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Wing Commander Russell Darby Welland MID (37308) (RAF) (Pilot)
Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker (VX24) (HQ 1 Australian Corps) (Australian Army)
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
Gunby, David and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1: 1939-1942, Midland Publishing Hinckley UK, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record: A705, 163/28/56
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Baker, N. (Nicola) More Than Little Heroes: Australian Army Air Liaison Officers in WWII, Australian National University Canberra ACT 2600, 1994