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The last of his crew, a brave fighter remembers - National - theage.com.au

THE sun had just risen when Flight Lieutenant Ken McDonald pushed his Beaufighter into a steep nose dive off the mountainous coast of West Timor.

At full throttle the fighter plane dropped from 1200 feet until it was scudding above the tree tops to avoid radar detection as the Japanese aerodrome at Penfoei, near Kupang, hove into view.

When Flight Lieutenant McDonald and the seven other Australian Beaufighter pilots spotted the enemy planes lined up next to the runway, glinting in the morning light, they could not believe their luck.

"It was beautiful, we dove down and started cleaning them up, one after the other," Mr McDonald said. "The only way to describe it was elation, because we were doing our job and doing it well.

"In the air you're too busy to think — the worst time is just before take off when you're waiting for the clock to tick over and feeling … fear, yes, that's what you would call it."

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in December 1941 an assault on the northern shore of Australia seemed inevitable.

The Royal Australian Air Force deployed a squadron, based in Darwin, to fly new Bristol-built Beaufighter planes in sorties over Australia, Papua New Guinea and Timor.

Ken McDonald, 89, is the last remaining pilot in Victoria from the 31 Beaufighter Squadron and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery after his tour of service.

Despite no experience as a pilot, Mr McDonald joined the RAAF because he had heard about the horrors of trench warfare. "The one thing I liked about aircraft was that you have to make the decisions yourself — you're not waiting to be told what to do," he said.

With his friend and navigator, Flight Lieutenant Francis Magee, DFC, he flew missions on targets like Penfoei and Taberfane, the floating plane base that the Japanese established in the Aru Islands in the Arafura Sea southwest of New Guinea and north of Australia. The main photograph was taken by Mr Magee as their plane flew away from Taberfane at sunset after bombing the Japanese floating base.

"They were a bit of a nuisance because they to used to attack our supply ships travelling across the Gulf of Carpentaria," Mr McDonald said.

The author of Coomalie Charlie's Commandos — 31 Squadron RAAF, Mr McDonald will spend Anzac Day remembering those lost in action and those that have since died.