Robert Ian Maxwell (Bob or Ian) KING

KING, Robert Ian Maxwell

    Service Number: 427122
    Enlisted: 24 May 1942
    Last Rank: Flight Sergeant
    Last Unit: No. 2 Squadron (RAAF)
    Born: Kalamunda, Western Australia, 16 April 1923
    Home Town: Kalamunda, Perth, Western Australia
    Schooling: Perth Modern School, Western Australia, 1938-39
    Occupation: Not yet discovered
    Died: Prisoner of War, Ambon, Netherlands East Indies, 16 August 1944, aged 21 years
    Cemetery: Ambon War Cemetery, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
    Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Darling Range Road District Roll of Honour, Nar Nar Goon Vacuum Oil Company Pty Ltd. Honour Roll, Subiaco Perth Modern School WW2 Honour Board
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    World War 2 Service

    3 Sep 1939: Involvement Flight Sergeant, 427122
    24 May 1942: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 427122
    4 Apr 1944: Imprisoned Air War SW Pacific 1941-45, Bob King and four other crewmates from No.2 Squadron Lockheed Hudson Mk.III "Jake" (s/n A16-230) were shot down and crash-landed in the Banda Sea near Dai Babar Island during a reconnaissance mission in the area on March 27, 1944. After drifting in an inflatable rescue dinghy for a week, the crew made landfall in the Pulau Metimiarang islands on April 3, 1944. They were turned over to (Occupied) Indonesian authorities, and thence to the Imperial Japanese Navy for internment as POWs at various camps, finally ending up at Ambon. King lost one crew mate -- co-pilot Donald COSMO (Serv#401731) -- along the way due to summary execution at the hands of one of their captors. Upon arrival at Ambon in July 1944, the crew were interrogated by English-speaking Japanese Naval Intelligence officers, but resisted divulging any information of value. As was a common fate of Allied aircrews in Japanese captivity, the men were eventually sentenced to death by beheading, with sentence carried out on August 16, 1944.
    16 Aug 1944: Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 427122, No. 2 Squadron (RAAF)

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    Biography contributed by Robert Johnson

    Robert King was known as Ian at Perth Modern School and a photo of him in RAAF uniform on his VWMA page also refers to him as Ian.  On page 154 of "Ambon" by Roger Maynard, he is refered to as "Flight Sergeant Bob King".

    He and three others of the five-man crew were beheaded without trial on 16 August 1944 and another was shot, probably in May 1944. 

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