BATTLE OF BRITAIN ‘LACE’
A researcher is appealing to the public for help locating the families of two wartime Dakota pilots who flew a special mercy mission in September 1945.
Nigel Apperley is trying to identify the exact C-47 Dakota that carried 24 surviving Australian Army nurses from a remote Japanese internment camp in South Sumatra to Singapore shortly after the end of World War II.
The aircraft was piloted by Squadron Leader Frederick Warren Madsen, DFC, with Flying Officer (later Flight Lieutenant) Ken Brown as co-pilot.
Despite extensive research through available unit histories, operations records and published sources, the specific aircraft serial number for this flight has not been confirmed.
Mr Apperley is particularly hoping that descendants of the two pilots, or anyone who may still hold their wartime logbooks, photographs or related documents from September 1945, can provide the missing piece of the puzzle.
Squadron Leader Madsen had a son, Peter Frederick Madsen. Flight Lieutenant Brown had a daughter, Leigh Bowden Brown.
The flight formed part of the major post-surrender repatriation effort in which Dakota aircraft helped bring thousands of prisoners of war and civilian internees home from across Southeast Asia. For the nurses, survivors of the sinking of the SS Vyner Brooke in February 1942 and more than three years of internment in harsh conditions in Sumatra, t was one of the first emotional steps on the long journey home to Australia.
Anyone with information about the Madsen or Brown families, or who may have access to relevant wartime records from the period, is asked to contact researcher Nigel Apperley directly at bowerbirdav@shoal.net.au.
Image courtesy of Department of Defence – The A65-86 C-47B Dakota at the unveiling Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre in 2018.