John Dowland (RAF officer)

John Noel Dowland

Born| (1914-11-06)6 November 1914
Lewisham, England
Died| 13 January 1942(1942-01-13) (aged 27)
Luqa, Malta
Buried|

Capuccini Naval Cemetery, Malta

Allegiance| United Kingdom
Service/branch| Royal Air Force
Rank| Wing Commander
Battles/wars| Second World War

* Home Front
* The Blitz
* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre
* Siege of Malta †

Awards| George Cross

John Noel Dowland, GC (6 November 1914 – 13 January 1942) was a Royal Air Force officer of the Second World War and a recipient of the George Cross.[1]

## Life[edit]

Dowland was the son of the vicar of Ruscombe, the Rev. F.M. Dowland, and educated at St John's School, Leatherhead before taking him flight training at Cranwell in 1934.[1] After Cranwell he was a gazette as a pilot officer and joined a squadron of Bomber Command.[1] At the outbreak of World War II he took command of a unit overseas.[1]

Dowland was a Royal Air Force officer of the Second World War and a recipient of the George Cross.[1] Along with civilian armament instructor Leonard Henry Harrison, Dowland was awarded the George Cross for his gallantry in defusing a bomb that had fallen on the grain ship SS Kildare in Immingham docks on 11 February 1940.[1] The bomb proved extremely difficult to defuse as it had embedded itself at an extreme angle in the main deck. The citation, which appeared in the London Gazette on 7 January 1941, noted that he displayed the same "conspicuous courage and devotion to duty in circumstances of exceptional danger and difficulty" when defusing a bomb on a trawler in June 1940.[2]

His and Harrison's actions were the earliest to be awarded the George Cross, although Thomas Alderson's award was the first to be announced.[3][4]

Dowland later achieved the rank of wing commander, but was killed when taking part in a raid on Pantelleria on 13 January 1942. After the aircraft he was piloting was damaged by anti-aircraft fire, Dowland attempted an emergency landing at Luqa, Malta. Both he and his observer were killed in the subsequent crash. Dowland is buried in Capuccini Naval Cemetery, Malta.[5]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f Obituary in The Times, 17 January 1942, p.2
2. ^ London Gazette, 7 January 1941
3. ^ John Frayn Turner (2010). Awards of the George Cross 1940–2009. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 9781848842007.
4. ^ Michael Ashcroft (2012). George Cross Heroes. Hachette. ISBN 9780755364527.
5. ^ "Casualty details: Dowland, John Noel". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 7 May 2014.

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* Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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