Dornier Do 24K in Australian Service

After the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, six Dornier Do 24K aircraft were evacuated to Australia. All the Dornier’s were in poor condition and required several months of repairs and modifications after reaching Australia. The aircraft were given RAAF Serials A49-1 through A49-6 consecutively.

One of the machines (A49-6) served the majority of its remaining career with the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service flying between Australia and the NEI, while the other five (A49-1 thru A49-5) served with No 41 Maritime Transport Squadron based in Townsville, Queensland. Maintaining the aircraft proved to be very difficult as spares were virtually non-existent because the aircraft arrived without support equipment, servicing manuals or tools. All 41 Squadron aircraft spent long periods of time unserviceable awaiting repair to the troublesome engines; electrical systems or the hull. For these and other reasons the aircraft were only used for a relatively short time and by June 1944 five were placed into long term storage and one had been destroyed in an accident. Sometime during 1945 the remaining five aircraft were scrapped by No 1 Flying Boat Repair Depot at Lake Boga, Victoria.