- Contributed by听
- Roger Albert Jewell
- People in story:听
- Albert Sidney David Dobie, Harry Haig Frost, John Haythorn-Thwaite Bateman, Albert France, P/O Carpenter, Roland George Cunningham
- Location of story:听
- 32 OTU, Patricia Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
- Background to story:听
- Royal Air Force
- Article ID:听
- A7774932
- Contributed on:听
- 14 December 2005
Albert Sidney David Dobie RAFVR 1922-1943
In memory of Albert Dobie, my Uncle, who died while undergoing aircrew training in Canada on September 19th 1943.
He was serving with 32 OTU R.A.F based at Patricia Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada (now Victoria International Airport).
He and his crew were flying on a navigational exercise in Handley Page Hampden AJ993. It was seen to dive into the sea in the Juan de Fuca Strait off Port Renfrew, Vancouver Is. by the navigator of another Hampden, P/O Carpenter
There were no survivors and while wreckage was found, no bodies were recovered. The names of all the crew are inscribed on the Ottawa War Memorial.
They were :-
Sgt Albert Sidney David Dobie RAFVR
Navigator
P/O Harry Haig Frost RCAF
Pilot
WO2 John Haythorn-Thwaite (Jack) Bateman RCAF
Wireless Operator A.G.
WO Albert France RCAF
Wireless Operator A.G.
Ministry of Defence records show :-
鈥溾 that he was the Navigator aboard a Hampden Mark I aircraft of No.32 Operational Training Unit, Patricia Bay, British Columbia, Canada Command, which set out on a Navigation Exercise over the sea, near Vancouver Island, at a height of 500 feet. At 08.13 hours, during bad weather (fog and rain), the aircraft was observed to dive into the sea from a turn, whilst flying at approximately 400 feet. Sergeant Albert Dobie, along with three RCAF crew members, was reported missing and his death was presumed to have occurred on 19 September 1943.鈥
Albert and his pilot were almost certainly going to be posted to crew Bristol Beaufighters with 144 Squadron in one of the Coastal Command Strike Wings.
One of Albert鈥檚 friends on 32 OTU, (Roland) George Cunningham, another navigator, was posted to 144 and later killed in January 1945.
Extract from 鈥淲ings for Victory鈥 :-
No. 32 OTU was based at Patricia Bay, on Vancouver Island. A torpedo-bombing unit, it trained crews for 415 Squadron RCAF (which later became a heavy bomber unit), 144 Squadron RAF, and 455 Squadron RAAF. It operated a range of aircraft - Beauforts, Hampdens, Swordfish, and Ansons - and had a brief and largely uneventful history as an operational squadron at the time of Pearl Harbor."
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