Jerry Pentland
Jerry Pentland | |
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Birth name | Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley Pentland |
Nickname(s) | Jerry |
Born | 5 August 1894 Maitland, New South Wales |
Died | 3 November 1983 Collaroy, New South Wales | (aged 89)
Allegiance | Australia |
Service/ |
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Years of service |
|
Rank | Squadron leader |
Unit |
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Commands held | No. 1 Rescue and Communication Flight (1942–1943) |
Battles/wars |
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Awards | |
Other work |
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Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley "Jerry" Pentland,
Pentland served in the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and later the Royal Air Force, before going into business in 1927. His ventures included commercial flying around the goldfields of New Guinea, aircraft design and manufacture, flight instruction, and charter work. In the early 1930s, he was employed as a pilot with Australian National Airways, and also spent time as a dairy farmer. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, he re-enlisted in the RAAF, attaining the rank of squadron leader and commanding rescue and communications units in the South West Pacific. Perhaps the oldest operational pilot in the wartime RAAF, Pentland was responsible for rescuing airmen, soldiers and civilians, and earned the Air Force Cross for his "outstanding courage, initiative and skill". He became a trader in New Guinea when the war ended in 1945, and later a coffee planter. Retiring in 1959, he died in 1983 at the age of eighty-nine.
Early life
Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley Pentland was born in
World War I
Pentland enlisted as a
On 20 July 1917, soon after arriving at his new unit in France, Pentland achieved his first victory in the SPAD when he shared in the destruction of an
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On a recent occasion he flew to an aerodrome fifteen miles behind the enemy lines, descended to within twenty feet of the ground, and fired into eight hostile machines. On his return journey he attacked a train with considerable effect from a low altitude. He has in addition brought down several enemy machines, and has always set a splendid example of fearlessness and devotion to duty in attacking enemy balloons and troops on the ground.
Credited with one more victory during August 1917, and another four the following month, Pentland's score stood at ten when he was injured on 26 September after an artillery shell struck his SPAD and forced him to crash land. Following his recovery, he again spent time instructing before being posted back to a front-line unit, this time No. 87 Squadron, operating Sopwith Dolphins.[7][11] Promoted captain, he returned to France in April 1918, having transferred the same month with the rest of the RFC to the newly formed Royal Air Force (RAF).[13] Pentland went on to achieve thirteen victories with No. 87 Squadron, where his aggressive tactics saw him dubbed the "Wild Australian" by colleagues. Appointed commander of 'B' Flight, he also frequently acted as a "lone wolf", actively seeking dogfights with enemy aircraft on his own.[7][14] On 18 June, he was alone on patrol when he engaged a flight of four Rumpler high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, forcing down three of them. This action earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 3 August:[13][15]
A gallant flight commander, who in the last three months has destroyed two enemy machines and driven down four out of control. Recently, whilst on special patrol, he, single-handed, attacked four enemy aeroplanes; having driven down one out of control, he engaged the leader, damaged his engine, and compelled him to glide to his lines. One of the remaining machines followed the leader, but he attacked the other and drove it down in a steep dive.
On 25 August, Pentland attacked and destroyed two German planes, a DFW two-seater and Fokker D.VII, before himself being shot down and wounded in the foot.[1][14] These would be his last victories; his grand total of twenty-three included eleven destroyed, one of which was shared, and twelve out of control, three of them shared.[14][16] This score ranked him fifth among the Australian aces of the war after Robert Little, Stan Dallas, Harry Cobby and Roy King.[17]
Interwar period
Pentland relinquished his RAF commission and returned to Australia at the end of the war, earning money by giving joyrides in an
In 1927, Pentland formed Mandated Territory Airways with entrepreneur Albert Royal to fly freight to and from the goldfields of New Guinea. The pair bought a DH.60 Moth biplane, which Pentland ferried to the firm's base at Lae in February 1928.[24] The business prospered in the short term, to the extent that the partners took on another Moth and more pilots. By the end of the year, Pentland was suffering from malaria and had to abandon the venture, selling one of the planes to Guinea Airways and returning to Australia with the other.[25] After recovering in the new year, he embarked on a series of new enterprises, including aircraft manufacture, a flying school, and charter work. In February 1929, he formed the General Aircraft Company with Royal and another partner to produce an Australian-designed aeroplane, the Genairco, of which eight were eventually sold. With the Moth from Mandated Territory Airways, he established Pentland's Flying School at Mascot, New South Wales. He also flew charters with a Moth owned by The Sun newspaper, using the same aircraft that September to compete in the East-West Air Race from Sydney to Perth, as part of the celebrations for the Western Australia Centenary. The event attracted several veteran aviators of World War I, including Horrie Miller—the eventual winner on handicap—and Charles "Moth" Eaton, whom Pentland beat into fifth place across the line.[26][27]
Lack of patronage led to Pentland folding his businesses and taking a job in 1930 as a pilot with Australian National Airways (ANA), a new airline founded by Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.[7][28] By 1932, ANA was in trouble as well, and Pentland left to set up as a dairy farmer on a property he bought at Singleton. Within two years, drought forced him to sell the land and he returned to earning his living as a pilot, instructing at aero clubs in Queensland and New South Wales.[29] By late 1937, he was again employed as a transport pilot in New Guinea, where he was known as a practical joker who liked to hold a map in front of his face in apparent short-sightedness and ask his passengers if they could see a landing ground anywhere. He returned to Australia after war was declared in September 1939.[30]
World War II
Having offered his services to the Australian government on his return from New Guinea, Pentland rejoined the RAAF on 17 June 1940. He undertook the flying instructors' course at
Promoted to
Posted back to Australia after relinquishing command of No. 1 Rescue and Communication Squadron in June 1943, Pentland received radar training and helped to set up the RAAF's early warning grid in northern Australia.[33][37] He returned to New Guinea in March 1944 as CO of No. 8 Communication Unit, Goodenough Island, which had been formed in November 1943 from Pentland's old Rescue and Communications Squadron. Operating Tiger Moth, Supermarine Walrus, Consolidated PBY Catalina, Dornier Do 24, Bristol Beaufort, CAC Boomerang, Bristol Beaufighter, and Vultee Vengeance aircraft, the unit performed reconnaissance and bombing sorties over New Britain and north-eastern New Guinea, as well as rescue and survey missions.[38] In July 1945, Pentland was posted to Mascot as CO of No. 3 Communication Unit, serving until September.[39] His achievements in New Guinea earned him the Air Force Cross, the citation being promulgated on 22 February 1946 and concluding:[8][40]
Squadron Leader PENTLAND has, at all times, displayed outstanding courage, initiative and skill, and these qualities, together with his excellent knowledge of New Guinea and its climatic conditions, have made his services invaluable, not only to the R.A.A.F., but to the U.S. Army Air Forces and the New Guinea Forces as well.
Later life
With the end of hostilities in the Pacific, Pentland was discharged from the RAAF on 2 November 1945.[8] He took the opportunity to purchase surplus military equipment in New Guinea and established himself as a trader in Finschhafen, later expanding to Lae and Wau. In 1948, he went into business as a coffee planter in Goroka, and also recruited labour from the highlands for industries on the coast. Prospering as a planter, he contributed to development of the region by building Goroka's original constant-flowing water supply and encouraging other businesses to set up there. His ongoing commitments in New Guinea meant that he was not invested with his Air Force Cross until 1950. In 1959, he sold his interests in Goroka and retired with Madge to their seaside home in Bayview, New South Wales.[7][41] Madge Pentland died in 1982, and Jerry eighteen months later, on 3 November 1983, at the War Veterans Home in Collaroy. He was survived by daughter Carleen, and cremated on 7 November.[2][3]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Newton, Australian Air Aces, pp. 52–53
- ^ a b c "Veteran of Western Front dogfights". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 November 1983. p. 14. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ a b Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, p. 13
- ^ a b c "Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley Pentland". The AIF Project. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ "12th Light Horse Regiment". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Garrisson, Australian Fighter Aces, p. 98
- ^ a b c d "Air Force Cross: Squadron Leader A A N D Pentland". Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 15–17
- ^ Hernan, Forgotten Flyer, p. 18
- ^ a b c d e f Guttman, SPAD VII Aces of World War 1, pp. 42–45
- ^ "No. 30466". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 January 1918. p. 635.
- ^ a b Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 51–56
- ^ a b c Franks, Dolphin and Snipe Aces of World War 1, pp. 53–54
- ^ "No. 30827". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 August 1918. p. 9202.
- ^ Shores, British and Empire Aces of World War 1, p. 83
- ^ Garrisson, Australian Fighter Aces, p. 27
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 62–70
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, p. 73
- ^ a b Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 73–77
- ^ "No. 32819". The London Gazette. 1 May 1923. p. 3150.
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 77–78
- ^ "No. 33184". The London Gazette. 20 July 1926. p. 4802.
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 82–83
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, p. 86
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 87–96
- ^ "East-west air race ends". The Age. 7 October 1929. Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 96–97
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 102–103
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 108–114, 157–158
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 114–115
- ^ RAAF Historical Section, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 117–118
- ^ a b RAAF Historical Section, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force, p. 186
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 121, 134
- ^ a b Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force, p. 634 Archived 24 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ No. 1 Rescue and Communication Unit (1942–1943). "Operations Record Book". RAAF Unit History sheets (Form A50). Retrieved 8 July 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 135–137
- ^ RAAF Historical Section, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 137–140
- ^ RAAF Historical Section, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 121–122
- ^ "No. 37479". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 February 1946. p. 1076.
- ^ Schaedel, Australian Air Ace, pp. 153–157
References
- ISBN 1-84176-317-9.
- Garrisson, A. D. (1999). Australian Fighter Aces 1914–1953. Fairbairn, Australian Capital Territory: Air Power Studies Centre. ISBN 0-642-26540-2. Archived from the originalon 24 November 2016.
- Gillison, Douglas (1962). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series Three (Air) Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 2000369.
- Guttman, Jon (2001). SPAD VII Aces of World War 1. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-222-9.
- Hernan, Brian H. (2007). Forgotten Flyer. Kalamunda, Western Australia: Tangee Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9757936-2-6.
- Newton, Dennis (1996). Australian Air Aces. Fyshwyck, Australian Capital Territory: Aerospace Publications. ISBN 1-875671-25-0.
- RAAF Historical Section (1995). Units of the Royal Australian Air Force: A Concise History. Volume 4: Maritime and Transport Units. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-42796-5.
- Schaedel, Charles (1979). Australian Air Ace: The Exploits of "Jerry" Pentland MC, DFC, AFC. Adelaide: Rigby. ISBN 0-7270-1057-3.
- Shores, Christopher (2001). British and Empire Aces of World War 1. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-377-2.