James Rowland (RAAF Officer) - Early Life and World War II

Early Life and World War II

Jim Rowland was born in Armidale, New South Wales, on 1 November 1922. He was the son of Louis Rowland, a commander in the Royal Australian Navy, and his wife Elsie. Jim evinced a fascination with aviation from an early age, carving model aeroplanes out of wood. Growing up with his three brothers on the family's 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) rural property, he was schooled via correspondence before completing his secondary education at Cranbrook, Sydney. At 17, he entered the University of Sydney to study aeronautical engineering, but left in May 1942 to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a pilot under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He was commissioned as a pilot officer in July 1943 and posted to Britain, where he converted to Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster heavy bombers.

Rowland was posted to the Pathfinder Force that marked targets for other aircraft on strategic bombing missions over Europe. Considered an exceptional pilot, he became a master bomber with No. 635 Squadron RAF in 1944. As a master bomber, his role was to arrive ahead of the main Allied force, check that flares marking the target were in place, and warn his fellows if they were bombing inaccurately. No. 635 Squadron operated Lancasters, a type that, Rowland recalled, "would forgive sprog pilots doing the most outrageous things to it, and would even bring them home with quite large bits shot off it". Having been promoted to acting flight lieutenant, he was on a sortie to attack Düsseldorf in December 1944 when he lost one of his engines. He nevertheless continued on to the target where, owing to his lower-than-normal altitude, his aircraft was seriously damaged by anti-aircraft fire before and after he dropped his bombs. Nursing his plane back to base, he was recommended for the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in recognition of his "great determination and devotion to duty"; the award was promulgated in the London Gazette on 16 February 1945. In January 1945, Rowland's Lancaster collided with a Canadian bomber over Frankfurt, and he had to bail out with his surviving crew. Captured and held by the Gestapo in solitary confinement, he was scheduled to be executed but was saved by two Luftwaffe officers who had learned of his situation. They took him to a prisoner-of-war camp, where he remained until being repatriated at the end of hostilities.