D.Jones - RNZAF pilot escaped from Java.

[chinapilot]

Did a search and apologies if this has come up before but another fascinating story from the 'Battle of Java' [which incidentally finished 70 years ago this month]

Evidently he flew a Lockheed 212 from a field near Pameungpeuk to Ceylon with five others...

[Destination changed - thanks Errol]

[errolmartyn]

Mar 23, 2012 12:44:21 GMT 12 chinapilot said:

Did a search and apologies if this has come up before but another fascinating story from the 'Battle of Java' [which incidentally finished 70 years ago this month]

Evidently he flew a Lockheed 212 from a field near Pameungpeuk to Australia with five others...

Ian,

His surname was Jones, not Janes (perhaps Dave can correct the heading?).

Sadly, he did not survive the war:

From my trilogy For Your Tomorrow - A record of New Zealanders who have died while serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services since 1915 (Volume Two: Fates 1943-1998)
Sun 9 Jan 1944
SOUTH PACIFIC

Escorting Avengers on a raid against Tobera airfield, Rabaul, New Britain
17 Squadron, RNZAF (Ondonga, New Georgia, Solomon Islands)
P-40N Warhawk NZ3123/H - took off from Torokina after refuelling, and during an engagement with enemy fighters near Cape Gazelle was one of two of the Squadron’s P-40s shot down into the sea at 1345. At least two parachutes were seen in the area but on searching no trace of the pilots could be found. Both airmen are commemorated on the Bourail Memorial.
Pilot: NZ404875 Fg Off Douglas Loftus JONES, RNZAF - Age 22. 1032hrs.
Lost on his second South Pacific tour, Jones had flown 67 ops in that theatre, but may have also flown operationally while serving in Britain during 1941. Arriving in Java as part of a fighter pilot reinforcement party in early February 1942 (but not thought to have flown operationally there), with four other pilots aboard a hastily, makeshift repaired Lockheed 212, he made a remarkable escape to Ceylon several days after the Allied Forces in the Netherlands East Indies had surrendered to the Japanese.

Errol

[chinapilot]

Thanks Errol!

Since posting have info from the book 'Bloody Shambles' that the route was Pameumpeuk, Java, to Medan and the airfield Lho-Nga near Kotaradja and pumping the gas from jury rigged tanks...what an adventure! What a bugger he didn't survive the war.

[My son was living down the road from where he took off from so will get him to take some photos of the old strip when he's back there next]

[Dave Homewood]

I have read about this elsewhere, not sure if it was on the forum previously or if it is in Graham Clayton's book Last Stand in Singapore maybe?

[philbailey63]

Discovered this forum whilst researching for my wife's uncle Sgt Alan Bryant Martin. He was one of the Australian Pilots involved in the epic Java Ceylon flight. We do have limited knowledge of the events which we are happy to share but am seeking further information. Any help or references will be much appreciated

[americanvisitor]

Air Classics magazine Volume 2 Issue 2 May/June 1965 had a story by D.L. Jones "Escape from Java". No explanation of where they got the story.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for that tip. I'd love to read it, any chance of a scan please?

[americanvisitor]

The attachment size limit is a problem but here goes.

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[americanvisitor]

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[americanvisitor]

I have a 4mb PDF file if anyone has the capability to reduce it to a size that will fit here as an attachment. I found a story from a Canadian paper saying that the RCAF pilot didn't tell his family the details of the escape but they found out when another pilot wrote about it in a letter to his aunt so I wonder if that is where Jones' story came from.
trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11338821 has Dutchman's story; he was the only one to survive the war.
rafcommands.com has a thread listing all the pilots and their fates.

[errolmartyn]

Many thanks for posting these pages on the board, much appreciated.

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for scanning that article!

[steveh]

The thread on rafcommands about this story.www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?9407-Java-to-Ceylon-by-Lockheed-212 It a neat yarn & real #8 wire sort of stuff. Thanks to Americanvisitor for putting the Air Classics article scans up too. A really interesting read. I was wondering though if there should have been a page 1 (Java001) to this or was it just a title page? It all seems to read OK from the beginning.
Steve.

[chook]

I see that in his book "Kittyhawks and Coconuts" Keith Mulligan was under the impression that Doug Jones was shot down, captured by the Japanese and later executed (pg 111). A tragic version of events if it was true.

[americanvisitor]

Jul 8, 2012 23:24:10 GMT 12 philbailey63 said:

Discovered this forum whilst researching for my wife's uncle Sgt Alan Bryant Martin. He was one of the Australian Pilots involved in the epic Java Ceylon flight. We do have limited knowledge of the events which we are happy to share but am seeking further information. Any help or references will be much appreciated

Any wartime photos of Sgt. Martin that could be posted? It would be nice to put faces with the story.

[americanvisitor]

Stuart Munro at Milne Bay with No. 75 Squadron RAAF. KIA 27 August 1942. Public domain photo from Australian War Memorial.

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[americanvisitor]

Defence Canada photo of RCAF F/O Rodolfo "Dizzy" Mendizabal with one of the Curtiss Mohawks that he flew in Burma. Killed 10 August 1943 in an accident at Frank Carey's Air Fighting Training Unit at RAF Amarda Road. There were two RCAF pilots in the uncropped photo and both were killed in accidents after the squadron converted to Hurricanes.

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[americanvisitor]

Fred "Pulk" Pelder on a Brewster in Singapore. I have corresponded with his son who was not pleased that his father is sometimes identified as "Frits".

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