David Ross (aviator)

Following the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe and rising tensions with the Japanese Empire in the Pacific, the Australian government's External Affairs Department sent Ross to Portuguese Timor to shore up the British Empire's relationship with Portugal. While serving as consul, Ross also worked with Qantas to explore the possibility of establishing a seaplane route between Australia and Dili. When still-neutral Portuguese Timor was invaded in February 1942 and occupied by a Japanese army in pursuit of retreating British and Dutch forces, Ross was taken prisoner.[3] Despite the capture of Dili, the Japanese still faced determined Anglo-Dutch forces in the mountains of Timor. Hoping to negotiate their surrender, Colonel Sadashichi Doi of the Japanese 38th Division sent Ross with a letter of demands to Sparrow Force, a detachment of Australian soldiers who had withdrawn to defensive positions in the mountains. The Japanese demands were not well received, and seeing that further hostilities were inevitable, Ross issued letters of credit to the allied soldiers offering any civilians who assisted them financial compensation by the British Empire; this in turn allowed allied soldiers to buy supplies on credit. In addition, Ross gave the allied forces detailed information about the Japanese defences around Dili. Ross then returned to Dili, where he was imprisoned for a second time. After several months of further skirmishes between the Japanese and the allied forces, Ross was again sent to the allied lines to relay the Japanese demands for an allied surrender. He was rebuffed again, but this time declined to return to Japanese custody and stayed with a detachment of Australians. On 16 July Ross was evacuated by HMAS Kuru to Australia, where he described before the Advisory War Council the situation on Timor.[1] He then became a flight coordinator for the Royal Australian Air Force, at one point coordinating the movements of over one hundred Douglas DC-3 transport aircraft.[2]

After the war Ross was appointed Regional Director of Civil Aviation for Western Australia, a position he held from 1948 until his retirement in 1964.[2]