Summer weight service dress tunic : Squadron Leader V L Dowling, RAAF

Partially lined summer weight khaki wool service dress tunic with a pair of pleated breast patch pockets and a pair of expanding patch waist pockets. The pockets have flaps secured by brass RAAF buttons, those on the breast having three pointed flaps, while those at the waist are square. The tunic has the rank stripes of a Squadron Leader and oxidised brass crown and eagle badges on each epaulette. Attached with press studs above the left hand breast pocket are the ribbons of the British War Medal 1914-1920 and the Victory Medal, below a pair of embroidered Royal Flying Corps pilot's wings from the First World War, which are also attached with press studs. Inside the collar in black ink are the words 'F/L Dowling' and several cleaners' markings. A self fabric belt is buttoned to the rear of the tunic and has a brass buckle with two metal claws. The inside of the belt is marked 'Dowling.' in black ink.

Vincent Laidley Dowling was born at Darlinghurst, NSW, in May 1888. He studied architecture at Sydney University before the First World War, and enlisted in the (British) Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1916. After training in the UK, he was posted to France as a Lieutenant in early 1918, serving with Nos 1 and 2 Aircraft Supply Depots. He relinquished his Royal Air Force commission as a Flying Officer in 1921 and returned to Australia, where he and a partner, JD Moore, established an architectural firm in Sydney. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Dowling offered himself for service in the RAAF, and was posted as a flight lieutenant to an aircrew training unit. In January 1941 he was promoted to squadron leader, a rank which he held for the remainder of the war. Dowling was discharged from the RAAF in July 1947. He died on 20 August 1981. His younger brothers, Captain Brian Laidley Dowling (22 Squadron RFC) and Lieutenant Max Russell Laidley Dowling (4 Infantry Battalion, AIF) were both killed during the First World War.