Saunders, Denis Catalina Flying Boat Captain

A Pilot’s War from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean

In 1941, the then 21-year-old Bruce Daymond enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. He volunteered for service on behalf of the British Empire, fully aware that he would be deployed thousands of miles from Australia. Just sixteen days after beginning his flight training, Bruce completed his first solo flight. Following his training as a pilot and navigator under the "Empire Air Training Scheme"conducted in both Australia and Canadahe served in the RAF throughout the Second World War. Flying the Consolidated Catalina flying boat, he served with various Coastal Command units, specifically Squadrons No. 209, 357, 628, and 240. Throughout his service, Bruce kept an extensive, detailed, and candid personal diary; this forms the basis of the present, insightful account of a flying boat captain's service. The result is a compelling testament to one man's dedication and leadership, as well as his endurance in the face of hundreds of hours of monotonous flyingpunctuated time and again by moments of terror and courage amidst extreme danger. Bruce describes a flying record that was extraordinary for such a brief period: he inserted and extracted Allied coastwatchers along the Japanese-occupied coast of Burmamissions for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross. The former award was rarely bestowed upon officers of his rank at the time. His missions included flightsmany lasting over twenty hoursconducted almost exclusively over open water and often at night. These operations encompassed anti-submarine protection for convoys, covert missions in Japanese-controlled waters, and frequent meteorological flights into tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal. During one of these flights, a violent downdraft sent the aircraft into a steep dive toward the turbulent sea, from which the pilot only managed to pull out with great difficulty. This is an extraordinary account of wartime service and of living life to the fullest in the face of an uncertain future.