Jack Davenport

Today we remember Jack Davenport, a distinguished pilot with Coastal Command. For Jack, the celebrations of the end of the war were unforgettable. But, that joy was always saddened with vivid images of those who didn’t make it.

Jack Davenport audio file (MP4 23.92 MB)

Jack Davenport audio script

75th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War

Audio actuality

“Fellow Citizens, the War is over” — (The Hon J B Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia)

On the 75th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War, Australia remembers Jack Davenport, a distinguished pilot with Coastal Command.

For Jack, the celebrations of peace at war’s end were unforgettable memories. But that joy is always saddened with vivid images of those who didn’t make it.

Jack Davenport

I guess the thing I always remember most, particularly on occasions when there are commemorative services, is flying alongside a young pilot who was on his first or second trip. And he’d been badly hit. His plane was on fire, and he couldn’t cope with the situation of putting it out. There was nothing he could do. And gradually, he was getting closer and closer to the water, which was fairly rough. And I was flying … what, 30 feet away from him. And I could see this young man with very little chance of survival. And it always made a great impression on me, and I always think of that at commemorative services.

Saturday, August 15 marks the 75th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War. Let’s pay our respects to that amazing generation of Australians.