"Average
pilot. Weak in airmanship but an intelligent
type". Richard concluded his courses
successfully however and upon graduation, he
was posted overseas where he eventually
ended up flying with No. 402 RCAF Squadron.
When exactly he joined
402 squadron, is not known at this time. He
flew with the squadron in May and June of
1943. The squadron flew Spitfires at the
time. In March 1943 the squadron had moved
to Digby, Lincolnshire for duty with No. 12
Group. Here 402 Squadron re-equipped with
Spitfire VB's and commenced Maritime
operations. Air-sea rescues, convoy patrols,
and anti-shipping sorties off the Dutch
coast formed the mainstay of 402 operations.
Shipping reconnaissance's (lagoons) and
strikes (roadsteads) in the company of
Beaufighter aircraft became almost a daily
event.
On 18
May by then P/O Dose and P/O Everett
scrambled to intercept n unidentified
aircraft. It turned out to be friendly.
On 25 May F/L Johnston and P/O Dose escorted
a captured JU 88, a HE 111, and FW 190 from
Wittering to Digby aerodrome where they were
demonstrated, and exhibited to station
personnel.
On 8 June, P/O Dose, together with P/O W.C.
Lawrence, P/O D.R. Drummond and Sgt. L. A. Moore, flew to Coltishall and from there took
off on a rhubarb mission to attack barges
and trains in area south of Haarlem. P/O
Dose teamed up with F/O D.R. Drummond (F/O
D.R. Drummond – Red 1; P/O R.H. Dose – Red
2)
They entered the coast
in the area north of Noordwijkerhout and
proceeded along the Leiden - Haarlem
Railway, turning to the right just before
reaching Haarlem and flew until reaching the
canal from Haarlem to Zaandam - Leiden, then
south. They attacked barges at Hoofddorp.
After attacking the barges, Red 2 started to
climb into cloud cover and he was followed
by Red 1. When in cloud cover, Red 1 called
Red 2 to ask if he knew where he was going.
Red 2 answered that he did not and that was
the last message received from him. While
the section was engaging the barges, they
experienced a moderate amount of light flak,
but P/O Dose at no time gave any indication
over the R/T that he had been hit by flak
and failed to answer any of F/O Drummond’s
calls after the last message.
The Operations Book of 402 squadron
mentions: "P/O Drummond shot up a barge and
Sgt. Moore claims one locomotive. P/O Dose
is missing from this operation. He was last
seen going north-west towards the coast and
up into cloud cover as flak was encountered.
This is another sad blow for the Squadron.
Although ‘Dick’ was one of the newer members
of the Squadron he was fast becoming one of
the better pilots. Very keen at work and
very popular around the mess are only two of
his many traits, which made him
outstanding."
P/O Dose's Spitfire
came down at 20.44 near Wassenaar, 2
kilometers southwest of the water tower. He
is buried at Den Haag (Westduin) Cemetery.
(Picture
courtesy of W. Peter Fydenchuk, from his
book Immigrants Of War,
pg 256 - used with permission)
