Date:	Wednesday 10 December 1941
Time:	05:25
Type:	Lockheed Hudson Mk II
Owner/operator:	13 Sqn RAAF
Registration:	A16-69
MSN:	1922
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	off Ambon Island, Maluku Islands -   Indonesia
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Laha, Ambon
Destination airport:

Narrative:
When the war with the Japan started (on 8 December 1941 for the Australians) 13 Sqn RAAF had 12 Hudsons and six of them were already deployed at Laha airfield, near Ambon, Netherlands East Indies. On the 10th, they were ordered to carry out their first raid of the war, an attack on Tobi island, midway between Ambon and the Palau Islands, which was known to be occupied by the Japanese.

Six Hudsons took off before dawn to carry out this mission but the leading aircraft, the Hudson II A16-69 flown by Wg Cdr McDonald, the squadron commanding officer, crashed into the sea at 9545 hrs, 15 minutes later, with the loss of all aboard. The aircraft was seen to lose control some 400 feet above sea, spun into the sea and burst into flames, by 3° 49’ S 127° 58’ E. Prior to leaving operation room for this raid, McDonald was heard to remark that he might lower flaps and throttle back to 95 Sqn to enable other aircraft in formation to hold formation, and the pilots of the nearest two aircraft attributed the accident to this procedure.

Crew (all killed):
Wg Cdr Joshua Roger Gray McDonald (pilot)
Flg Off Ralph Henry Pope
Sgt Wallace Roy Foreman
Sgt Walter John Nagel

After the crash another pilot, Flt Lt Richard Archibald Dunne, unhesitatingly took command and the other five aircraft completed the raid. It was the first of the actions that enabled him to be awarded a DFC on 22 May 1942.

"Bloody Shambles, volume one: the drift to war to the fall of Singapore", by Christopher Shores, Brian Cull & Yasuho Izawa. ISBN 0-948817-50-X
www.adf-serials.com.au/2a16.htm
ORB of 13 Sqn RAAF, December 1941 (available online at http://naa12.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1358732)
Accident report of A-69 (availble online at http://naa12.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6950526)
https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1942/1942%20-%201262.html
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1530316/
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=-3.816297&lon=127.966003&z=10&m=b&search=3%C2%B0%2049%27%20S%20127%C2%B0%2058%27%20E

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
10-Dec-2015 18:08	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Nov-2017 18:06	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Aircraft type]
10-Jun-2022 23:20	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
30-Jun-2023 08:22	Ron Averes	Updated [[Location]]
01-Jul-2023 01:22	Ron Averes	Updated [[[Location]]]