On 7 September 1944, a Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force transport aircraft disappeared while flying from Merauke in Dutch New Guinea to Cairns. The aircraft was Douglas C-47 Dakota DT9-41, which also carried the civil registration VH-RDK. Its wreckage remained undiscovered in the densely forested mountains west of Mossman for more than 44 years.
Among those aboard was Samuel Jacob, an Ambonese teacher and civil administrator whose family’s subsequent struggle to remain in Australia became an important episode in the dismantling of the White Australia Policy.
Samuel Jacob and his family
Samuel Jacob was born in Ambon and worked as a headmaster and local civil administrator in Merauke. He and his family were Dutch nationals. In August 1942, following the Japanese advance through the Netherlands East Indies, the family was evacuated to Australia.
In Australia, Jacob worked with the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile at Camp Columbia in Brisbane and attended the school established in Melbourne to prepare civil servants for the postwar reconstruction and administration of the Netherlands East Indies.
In 1944 he returned to Merauke on official business. He was travelling back to Australia aboard DT9-41 when the aircraft disappeared.
Jacob’s death left his wife, Annie, responsible for their seven children. Her subsequent marriage to Australian John O’Keefe and the family’s campaign to remain in Australia developed into the landmark Annie O’Keefe case. Their successful challenge to the government’s attempt to deport them created an important early breach in the White Australia Policy.
Read the related DACC article: Dutch-Ambonese woman created first crack in the White Australia Policy – 1949.
The final flight
DT9-41 was one of the transport aircraft maintaining communications between the Allied base at Merauke and mainland Australia. Merauke was then defended by Dutch, Australian and American forces, including No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron and its P-40 Kittyhawk fighters.
The Dakota left Merauke for Cairns on 7 September 1944. The approximately 1,050-kilometre flight normally took about four hours. Conditions around Cairns were poor, with frequent showers, extensive cloud and limited visibility.
At 7.01 pm, the pilot radioed Cairns that the aircraft expected to land in approximately ten minutes. Witnesses subsequently reported hearing an aircraft near Trinity Beach, north of Cairns. An RAAF radar station plotted a track travelling inland before contact was lost.
Cairns airfield kept its flare path and revolving beacon operating, while Army searchlights were directed into the sky. The Volunteer Air Observers Corps was alerted, and the flare paths at Mareeba and Cooktown remained illuminated until 11 pm. No further transmission was received from the Dakota.
The previous evening, the same aircraft had reportedly experienced navigational difficulty in torrential rain and had circled Mossman in the mistaken belief that it was over Cairns. On that occasion, directions from Cairns and the illumination of searchlights helped guide it safely south.
Search and disappearance
A major search began at dawn on 8 September. RAAF Ansons, Beauforts, Boomerangs, Catalinas and a Mariner searched the land and sea. Australian Army units, police, civilians and naval vessels also participated.
Colonel Zomer, commanding officer of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force in Australia, travelled to the area. He recognised that the rugged mountains and dense rainforest could conceal the aircraft even if search crews flew directly over it.
No trace of DT9-41 was found, and the search was eventually abandoned. For more than four decades, the fate of the aircraft and those aboard remained unresolved.
The people aboard
The passenger list published by Australian and Dutch authorities in 1989 recorded 19 occupants.
The aircraft’s crew were:
- First Lieutenant H.J.H. Daanen, captain;
- Sergeant W.A. Torn, second pilot;
- Sergeant E. Kerdijk, weather and operations duties; and
- Sergeant J.F. Damwijk, engineer.
Seven members of No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron were travelling to Australia for rest leave:
- First Lieutenant B. van Aken;
- First Lieutenant R.T. Braakensiek;
- First Lieutenant H.P. Levy;
- First Lieutenant O. Leyding;
- First Lieutenant R.J. Salm;
- First Lieutenant J.S. Zwart; and
- Sergeant A.J. Scholte.
Other Dutch military personnel named in the contemporary report were:
- Second Lieutenant Lebeau;
- Second Lieutenant Boreboom; and
- Sergeant Straub.
The three civilians were:
- Samuel Jacob;
- Mrs Waas; and
- Mrs Wakewau.
Two Australian servicemen were also aboard:
- Lieutenant H.W.A. Armstrong of the Australian Army; and
- Squadron Leader Leslie Roy “Smokey” Dawson of the Royal Australian Air Force.
The spelling and initials above follow the passenger list reproduced in the 1989 newspaper report. They should be checked against Dutch and Australian service records if a definitive commemorative roll is prepared.
Squadron Leader Leslie Roy “Smokey” Dawson
Squadron Leader Leslie Roy Dawson had served as the RAAF liaison officer with the Dutch forces and was attached to RAAF Headquarters Netherlands East Indies in Melbourne. He had previously been commander of the Australian component of No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron.
The Netherlands recognised Dawson’s assistance to the Dutch air forces by appointing him to the Order of Orange-Nassau. His Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour entry records his death at Mossman on 7 September 1944.
Discovery of the wreckage
In January 1989, members of the Australian and New Zealand Scientific Exploration Society encountered aircraft wreckage while collecting botanical specimens in the mountains west of Mossman.
Expedition leader Gordon Baird returned to the location by helicopter with two RAAF investigators. The aircraft was identified through the VH-RDK marking on its tail, together with its engines, structural remains and personal possessions found at the site.
The wreckage lay approximately 200 metres below a ridge in steep, cold and densely vegetated country. Investigators remarked that it virtually had to be walked upon before it could be seen. The camouflage and rainforest had concealed it from the extensive wartime aerial search.
Flying Officer Pat Kenny and Corporal Andy Clarke of No. 27 Reserve Squadron at Townsville were among the first RAAF personnel to reach the wreckage. Their helicopter was flown by Flight Lieutenant Tony Thorpe.
The poor weather reported on the night of the disappearance, the aircraft’s uncertain position and the mountainous terrain provide the most likely context for the accident. However, the surviving evidence does not justify attributing the crash conclusively to one particular weather event or pilot decision.
Recovery and commemoration
The discovery ended one of northern Queensland’s longest-running wartime aviation mysteries. Relatives in Australia, the Netherlands and elsewhere were traced and informed.
The recovered remains were buried with military honours at Cairns War Cemetery on 28 July 1989. Representatives of the Netherlands and Australia, members of the armed forces, relatives and members of the local community attended the ceremony.
Paul Budde attended as an Australian correspondent for the Dutch radio station Veronica.
The tragedy connects several parts of the shared Dutch–Australian wartime experience: the defence of Merauke, the service of No. 120 Squadron, military transport between Dutch New Guinea and Australia, the contribution of Australian personnel to the Netherlands East Indies forces and the experiences of Ambonese families evacuated to Australia.
Contemporary account
The following downloadable document reproduces Nola Bates’s report published in The Canberra Times on 15 February 1989, shortly after the wreckage was discovered. It contains details of the aircraft’s final radio contact, the original search, the 1989 expedition, the recovery team and the passenger list released by Australian and Dutch authorities.
Download: “Jungle gives up its secret” – The Canberra Times, 15 February 1989
Related articles and sources
The Merauke Force and the defence of Dutch New Guinea
No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
Dutch-Ambonese woman created first crack in the White Australia Policy – 1949
Squadron Leader Leslie Roy Dawson – Australian War Memorial
DACC Air Force Research Portal
Paul Budde updated October 2026
