Searching for Jack O’Dowd, a New Zealander in RAF

[baturavgan]

Hello.

For a history project of mine, I am trying to find Jack O’Dowd who was New Zealander assigned to RAF 111 Squadron flying EE Lightnings in 1960s. One of his squadron mates in 111 Sqn told me that O’Dowd was NOT a RNZAF pilot on exchange duty on RAF. I know that this forum is on RNZAF pilots, I still wanted to ask about him thinking that somebody may help.

Jack O’Dowd was a Flying Officer in Nov 1963 and he returned to NZ after his retirement. So, if he is still in life, he must be over 80 years old.

I appreciate any help you may provide. Thank you.

Batur

[Dave Homewood]

Do you happen to know if he had a middle name? Or if he was officially John?

There are no Jack O'Dowds on the NZ Death Register but there are ten who have the name John, which Jack is usually a derivative of.

The most likely candidate is a John Sheridan O'Dowd who was born 7 May 1936, and died in 2007.

[Dave Homewood]

The book The Lightning In Service by Peter Caygill, which i found chapter one of online, says this:

"The month of November proved to be a difficult one for 111 Squadron. On the 8th, Flying Officer Jack O’Dowd, a New Zealander who had previously flown Javelin night-fighters, was flying the squadron’s T.4 XM992 when he received a No.1 engine fire warning having just carried out a practice overshoot at Honington. He jettisoned 18 the ventral tank and landed safely although the warning proved to be spurious, which had become a regular and somewhat unfortunate feature of Lightning operations."

pt-bisa.co.id/index.php/ebooks/download/id=979288&type=file

[baturavgan]

Thank you very much Dave. I will ask his full name to those who know him from 111 Squadron. I also saw Caygill's book and indeed this is how I know that he was a flying officer in 1963. Thank you once again. I will inform you as soon as I hear from his colleagues.

Batur

[errolmartyn]

According to the London Gazette, 504315 John Sheridan O'Dowd was appointed to a commission in the RAF as an Acting Pilot Officer on 27 Apr 55 ('twelve years on the active list and four years on the reserve . . . period of service to count from 15 Dec 1954') and relinquished his commission (as a Flight Lieutenant) on 16 Dec 70.

Errol

[baturavgan]

Thank you very much Errol. I am waiting to hear from his squadron mates about his full name. I will inform the forum members as soon as I get info from them. Thanks again.

Batur

[errolmartyn]

In the 1981 New Zealand Electoral Roll for Western Hutt his occupation is listed as 'Mot Flgt Ops' (Ministry of Transport Flight Operations?).

Errol

[avenger]

There was a Jack O'Dowd as an aerodromes expert in what was the Air Transport Division, MOT 1990 - 92.

[baturavgan]

May 19, 2019 20:07:12 GMT 12 avenger said:

There was a Jack O'Dowd as an aerodromes expert in what was the Air Transport Division, MOT 1990 - 92.

Thanks. Is it what you remember or did you find it from a source? Is there any chance to track this info?

[avenger]

May 26, 2019 23:02:40 GMT 12 baturavgan said:

May 19, 2019 20:07:12 GMT 12 avenger said:

There was a Jack O'Dowd as an aerodromes expert in what was the Air Transport Division, MOT 1990 - 92.

Thanks. Is it what you remember or did you find it from a source? Is there any chance to track this info?

I was there during that period and recall him well.

[1936model]

I have no idea if it will help with your research, but Jack O'Dowd was a pilot on the same night fighter squadron as me at RAF Waterbeach, near Cambridge,on 153 & 25 Squadrons from 1958 to 1961. He came over from Hawkes Bay, NZ to UK and did his flying training at RAF South Cerney. Before his night fighter tour he was on a Hunter squadron in 2nd TAF, RAF Germany - the squadron may have been 234, but I cannot be sure of that.

He and I shared many happy hours keeping the hostelries of Cambridgeshire in business, and he was best man at my wedding in 1961, but he was also a very accomplished fighter pilot. Unfortunately we lost touch when I was posted to Singapore in September 1961. He subsequently married Sylvia, and when I was arranging a Squadron re-union in 2008 I spoke to her and found out that he died of cancer in 2007.

Hope that may help,
Paul Rundell.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for that info Paul. It sounds like you both had interesting RAF careers. I am guessing you're not a Kiwi?

[baturavgan]

Jun 12, 2019 20:57:19 GMT 12 1936model said:

I have no idea if it will help with your research, but Jack O'Dowd was a pilot on the same night fighter squadron as me at RAF Waterbeach, near Cambridge,on 153 & 25 Squadrons from 1958 to 1961. He came over from Hawkes Bay, NZ to UK and did his flying training at RAF South Cerney. Before his night fighter tour he was on a Hunter squadron in 2nd TAF, RAF Germany - the squadron may have been 234, but I cannot be sure of that.

He and I shared many happy hours keeping the hostelries of Cambridgeshire in business, and he was best man at my wedding in 1961, but he was also a very accomplished fighter pilot. Unfortunately we lost touch when I was posted to Singapore in September 1961. He subsequently married Sylvia, and when I was arranging a Squadron re-union in 2008 I spoke to her and found out that he died of cancer in 2007.

Hope that may help,
Paul Rundell.

Thank you Paul. Sadly but I think this is him and it looks like he was the same person that Dave found. I have been searching for O'Dowd regarding my research on RAF interceptions on Turkish and Greek aircraft over Cyprus in 1960s and 1970s. When he was assigned to 111 Sqn, Jack O'Dowd took part in the interception of several Greek RF-84s over Cyprus on 12 August 1964. His attitute towards the Greek pilots were very different compared to Turkish pilots whom he intercepted a few days earlier. I will give more info about his interceptions after I receive the operational records (Form 540) of 111 Sqn for August 1964 from UK National Archives. Besides it, I have managed to talked to one of the Greek pilots who was on that mission and I am currently trying to get in contact wth the other 111 Sqn pilots who were on the same detachment to Cyprus in August 1964.

Paul, I have 3 questions for you. I will be very glad if you can help.

1) I think you flew the Javelins. Though they were not night fighter pilots, are you in contact with any 29 Sqn Javelin pilots who were based in Akrotiri in early 1960s? Or, do you know any people who may help me?
2) Have you ever been deployed to Cyprus with a RAF sqn and if yes did you take part in the interceptions of Turkish or Greek a/c there?
3) Are you still in contact with Mrs. Sylvia O'Dowd? She may still have Jack's logbooks which would be great help in my research.

Thanks.

batur

 
 

[gerardp]

I was thinking about Jack last night & decided to look him up and found this thread. I worked with him in his Civil Aviation Fight Ops days in the 80's, which was where he ended up after flying 707s for Qantas as a FO for 8 years.

He was an impressive guy. Humble, warm, intelligent, good humoured and a great role model. Sorry to hear he'd passed on.

[shaun112233]

Hi there,
I’ve just stumbled across this forum by looking up Jack on internet and came across this. I’m actually Jack’s grandson and my name is Shaun. If anyone who has replied to this forum is still active myself and my Dad, Rob (Jack’s son) would love to talk to anyone who knew about him. Please contact in comment on this post or email us directly at [e-mail]
Thanks all!

[shaun112233]

Hello to all in the forum, I am Jacks son Rob.
Sadly my father has passed away however all of his log books and airforce documents still remain with me.
Im sure that the initial timeline and reference made regarding this enquiry has sinced passed but i remian very interested in the forum discussions.
Please make contact via email
[e-mail]
Care of Rob O'Dowd
Rgds Rob O'Dowd

[baturavgan]

Jan 8, 2020 1:18:24 GMT 12 shaun112233 said:

Hello to all in the forum, I am Jacks son Rob.
Sadly my father has passed away however all of his log books and airforce documents still remain with me.
Im sure that the initial timeline and reference made regarding this enquiry has sinced passed but i remian very interested in the forum discussions.
Please make contact via email
[e-mail]
Care of Rob O'Dowd
Rgds Rob O'Dowd

Dear Rob,

I was the person asking about your father. I found Jack's name during my research about Turkish and Greek interceptions made by RAF over Cyprus in 1960s and 70s. Jack was a pilot in 111 Squadron in 1964. Along with 8 other pilots, Jack was deployed to Cyprus in July 1964. On 9 August 1964, 111 Sqn pilots intercepted several Greek RF-84Fs over Cyprus. This was an important mission for the Greek because it was the very first operation of Hellenic Air Force over Cyprus during a Turkish-Greek conflict. Because each Greek RF-84F was assigned to a different section of the island, the interceptions took place over different places. On another occasion, the 111 Sqn pilots tried to shadow Turkish aircraft during a strafing run. May I ask you to go over Jack's logbook for August -September 1964 to check whether he mentioned any of these interceptions? In the meantime, I will check my 111 Sqn documents to gather info about Jack for you. I also have some interesting information from my interview with one of the Greek RF-84F pilots who was intercepted on 9 Aug 1964. I will tell more about it later. Thank you. Batur


For your information: You can reach me from [e-mail], but it would also be good to share some information here on this discussion board so that people may know the unique history of one of their pilots.