England, 1943. Portrait of Flight Sergeant R.C. Dunstan RAAF. Robert Dunstan joined the Second ...

England, 1943. Portrait of Flight Sergeant R.C. Dunstan RAAF. Robert Dunstan joined the Second AIF in 1940 and served as a Sapper in the 2/8th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers, until he was wounded on 1941-05-25 in the right knee by shrapnel from Italian artillery as Australian and British forces prepared to attack Tobruk. His right leg was eventually amputated and he was evacuated to Australia and discharged from the Army in Melbourne in 1942-02 aged only 18. After a brief period of inactivity he applied for aircrew training in the RAAF. He was eventually selected for training as a Gunner. Graduating from No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School at Port Pirie he left Sydney for England on 1942-08-24. After further training at No.27 Operational Training Unit (OTU) and conversion to Lancasters at the Heavy Bomber Conversion Unit he was posted for operational duty as a tail gunner to No. 460 Squadron RAAF. He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 1943-08-07, awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1943-12 and completed his operation tour of thirty bombing missions over enemy territory on the evening of 3-4 November 1943, the day before his 21st birthday on 1943-11-05. Flight Sergeant Dunstan is holding his walking stick around which he has carved a circular notch for each of the twenty two operational missions he had completed when this portrait was taken. (This photograph is from a scrap book belonging to Mrs M.O. Taylor, the receptionist at Kodak House, London, which is held in the Private Records Collection, See 3DRL/6876)