Vale Cliff Dohle - former RAAF pilot.
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Vale Cliff Dohle - former RAAF pilot.
Cliff Dohle died on Monday 2 February at his home in Melbourne. He was 73 and in failing health due heart problems.
I knew him as a signaller member of my crew on Lincolns in 1959. He was always a quiet unassuming gentleman and a fine member of aircrew. Cliff eventually became a pilot in the RAAF and flew Canberra bombers and Iroquois helicopters.
He was involved in the Battle of Long Tan in Vietnam in August 1966. He flew one of the two helicopters that dropped urgently needed ammunition to Australian soldiers after they were ambushed by the enemy in the Long Tan rubber plantation. That mission was flown in blinding tropical rain at night and at tree top height. Without the supply drop the outcome of the battle could have been disaster for the Australian ground forces. Cliff received the Mentioned in Dispatches award for bravery.
After leaving the RAAF he became a civilian helicopter pilot and was chief pilot at Jayrow Helicopters at Moorabbin. All that knew him will mourn his passing.
I knew him as a signaller member of my crew on Lincolns in 1959. He was always a quiet unassuming gentleman and a fine member of aircrew. Cliff eventually became a pilot in the RAAF and flew Canberra bombers and Iroquois helicopters.
He was involved in the Battle of Long Tan in Vietnam in August 1966. He flew one of the two helicopters that dropped urgently needed ammunition to Australian soldiers after they were ambushed by the enemy in the Long Tan rubber plantation. That mission was flown in blinding tropical rain at night and at tree top height. Without the supply drop the outcome of the battle could have been disaster for the Australian ground forces. Cliff received the Mentioned in Dispatches award for bravery.
After leaving the RAAF he became a civilian helicopter pilot and was chief pilot at Jayrow Helicopters at Moorabbin. All that knew him will mourn his passing.
