LEST WE FORGET

Major Roderick Stanley DALLAS DSO DSC and Bar

Commanding Officer, No. 1 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service, 1917-8
Commanding Officer No. 40 Squadron RAF, 1918

From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force

Service No: Not Assigned
Born: Mount Stanley QLD, 29 July 1892
Unit: No. 40 Squadron RAF
Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)
Awarded the Bar to the Distinguished Service Cross (Bar)
Awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
Died: Air Operations, France, 1 June 1918, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Pernes British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
CWGC Additional Information: Croix de Guerre (France). Son of Honorah and the late Peter John Dallas, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Major Dallas is the second top-scoring Australian in the first world war, and sixteenth on the list of British aces, with a score of thirty-nine victories.

On 1 June Major Dallas was on a lone patrol along the lines, just west of the forward trenches, when he sighted three Fokker DR1s and immediately went after them.  He was concentrating on his attack, when he was surprised by two Albatros scouts flying out of the sun from behind him.  They opened fire before he could regain the initiative, and he was killed instantly. His aircraft went into a steep dive and came down on the German side of the lines (1).

(1) At Lievin, France

Extract from Garrisson, A.D.J. (Arthur Dean John) (O350) Australian Fighter Aces 1914-1953, Air Power Studies Centre Fairbairn ACT 2600, 1999 – Page 61

References:

Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives UK RAF Casualty Book AIR 1/969 page 325, 68590

Bibliography:

Garrisson, A.D.J. (Arthur Dean John) (O350) Australian Fighter Aces 1914-1953, Air Power Studies Centre Fairbairn ACT 2600, 1999 – Biography: Pages 59-64

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