Major Roderic S. Dallas. DSO, DSC and bar, Croix De Guerre

Name Roderic Stanley Dallas Date of Birth 39th July 1891 Place of Birth Mount Stanley, Queensland. Australia Occupation Assayer Date of Enlistment 1913 Place of Enlistment - Flying Unit 1 Wing, 1 Naval RNAS, 40 Sqn RAF Previous Unit Australian Army Service Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Air Force Theatres France AIF Rank Major Awards DSO, DSC and bar, Croix De Guerre Victories 49 aircraft and 1 balloon Nickname "Breguet" AIF Fate Killed In Action Date of AIF Fate 1st June 1918 Final Rank Major Date of Death 1st June 1918 Place of Death Lieven Cause of Death Killed in Action Notes Above the Trenches recognizes 32 victories as Rod Dallas's score. Further research by Adrian Hellwig has discovered Rod Dallas's total is 50 victories.

Roderic Stanley Dallas was born on the 30th of July 1891 at Mount Stanley in Queensland. Before Dallas enlisted in the Australian Army in 1913 at the age of 24, he was working as an assayer in Mount Morgan. Dallas was a big strapping man of over six feet and a wide chest. It was later to be a joke amongst the pilots of 1 Wing RNAS and 1(N) RNAS Squadrons, how Dallas managed to fit his large frame into the diminutive Nieuport 11 bebe (1). Originally at the outbreak of hostilities, Dallas applied to the RFC but was rejected. In 1915 he applied to the RNAS and was accepted into pilot training which commenced in June.

Dallas was initially posted to 1 Naval Wing at Dunkirk, whose complement was a mixture of single seat scouts and two seat reconn aircraft. The North Sea area of operations were an exacting and gruelling task in skill and stamina for the pilot and for the machines. The patrols were all too often dangerous due to weather alone, conditions going often from bad to worse in the space of fifteen minutes. Despite this, on the 23rd of April 1916, Dallas lodged his first claim for an aerial victory.

On the 11th of June, Dallas flying an N11 bebe and in the company of four other pilots engaged several Fokker EIII's. Dallas's engine was struck by bullets and his engine started spluttering as he lost height. As he searched for a place to land his N11, two Fokkers dived on his aircraft. Dallas utilised the Lewis gun's sliding motion and raked the belly of one Fokker which burst into flames. The second Fokker lost a wing on one side.

While with 1 Wing RNAS , Dallas flew the Nieuports serial numbers 3987 , 3993 , 3991 and the Triplane N500 which was a prototype. The triplane N500 was originally Clear Doped Linen with a cellon centre section in the upper wing. Later the aircraft was to gain a PC12(probably) coat and the words " Brown Bread " emblazoned under the cockpit. Dallas scored two victories in this aircraft. By February of 1917, Dallas had been awarded the DSO, been promoted to flight commander and had seven victories to his credit. During this period the unit was renamed 1(N) Naval Sqn, and was fully equipped with Sopwith Triplanes. In addition, due to the RFC requiring experienced pilots and aircraft at the front, 1 Naval was attached to the RFC on the Somme Front.

Bloody April, as the month of 1917 came to be known, was a bright period for the Sopwith Triplanes of 1 Naval. Their Aircraft outclassed the opposition, the tripe being able to out climb and out-manouvre the Albatros DII and DIII scouts. In this month Dallas was to increase his score by eight victories. In one engagement during the month Dallas and Flight Sub-Lieutenant T. G. Culling attacked a formation of fourteen German aircraft. After forty-five minutes they had shot down three of the enemy and driven the remainder into retreat. Dallas for his part in this engagement was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French.

Dallas was well known for his humour and one well known episode that displayed this was the "boots". Frederick Oughton wrote of this in his book The Aces;

... [Dallas was] a bouncy Australian , who regarded the war as one long joke. He once took a pair of flying boots on a lone trip, and dropped them on a German airfield with a note : Ground Officers - for the use of. Banking over the enemy airfield, hiding in low clouds, he then descended to see if the boots had been found. A few Germans were clustered around them and reading the sardonic message. Dallas drew a bead on the gathering and fired, then fled for his life.

This episode also featured in the RFC Communiques, and Arthur Cobby in his book "High Adventure" mentions how the pilots of 4 Sqn AFC would drop boots on German airfields as a sign the Germans were "stay at homes". Cobby writes;

This was not an original idea of ours as a Major Dallas, a New Zealander[sic] who commanded 40 Sqn had previously used it.

By the summer of 1917, Dallas had been awarded the bar to his DSC and had been given command of 1(N) Naval on June 14th and remained the CO until mid march of 1918. With the reorganization of the RNAS and RFC into the independant air arm, the Royal Air Force, Dallas was posted to command 40 Sqn RAF flying SE5.a's. Dallas when he took command of 40 RAF had 23 victories to his credit.

He was wounded in a ground strafing operation on April 14th after joining 40 Sqn but continued to fly. Dallas flew the SE5a's, C4879 , B178 , D3511 and D3520. The SE5a D3511, in what was one of the most interesting RAF schemes to come from the war was painted in a smooth camouflage of green and brown. Exceedingly similar to the camouflage schemes of WWII.

On Saturday June 1st of 1918, Dallas flew an early morning bombing sortie over Estaires with eight other aircraft returning to his airbase by 0730. At 1010 hours he took off alone in the SE5a D3530 to patrol the front. Dallas was bounced just west of the tranches by three Fokker DrI's of Jasta 14. Dallas was downed by Lieutenant Hans Werner, Jasta 14's commander and his 6th aerial victory. Dallas's SE5a crashed near Lieven where he was buried.

There remains debate as to Dallas's final victory total. The historians who researched the victories in the book, "Above the Trenches" came to the conclusion that Dallas was credited with 32 vitories. Further and more recent research by historian Adrian Hellwig places the victory total at 50. Adrian Hellwigs research is used in the victory listing that appears on this page.

Victory information from the personal research of Adrian Hellwig. Adrian has been researching Roderic Dallas for the last several decades and is writing a biography on the life and service of Roderic Dallas.

Name Roderic Stanley Dallas. DSO, DSC and bar, Croix De Guerre. Number - Rank Major Aircraft SE5a Squadron 40 Squadron Unit Royal Air Force Service Roayl Air Force Conflict 1914 - 1918 Date of Death 1st June 1918 Cause of Death Killed In Action Memorial Panel - Memorial Details - Next of Kin Son of Honorah and the late Peter John Dallas of Brisbane, Queensland. Australia. Enlistment Source Commonwealth War Graves Roll of Honour Card. Notes The Commonwealth War Graves Commision incorrectly records Dallas's nationality as United Kingdom.

Lest We Forget