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Description
On 6th December 1941 night searches over the South China Sea with long range Catalina flying boats from the Royal Air Force's No. 205 Squadron were ordered. Accordingly, at 6:30 pm on December 6 a RAF Catalina under Flight Lieutenant R.A. Atkinson was dispatched from Seletar to try to find Japanese activity. At 2:00 am on December 7, after not hearing from their first PBY, a second, under command of Australian Flying Officer Patrick Edwin Bedell, was sent up to take over patrol.

Eventually, Atkinson's Catalina returned reporting that nothing had been found. Meanwhile, Flying Officer Bedell, his crew, and his PBY simply vanished. Far East Air Command in Singapore had no hard evidence as to what had happened to Bedell's plane, but they had strong suspicions that would have to wait until after the war for confirmation.

Bedell's Catalina had come very close to the Japanese convoi - far too close for the comfort of Japanese Admiral Ozawa. At 8:20 am on December 7, when Bedell was near Phu Quoc Island off the Cambodian coast, he was spotted by a floatplane from the seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru. The Japanese pilot Ensign Ogata Eiichi maneuvered onto the PBY's tail and opened fire. Whether the attack caused damage is uncertain, but the Catalina turned away from the convoi and neither pilot pursued the exchange further.

But Flying Officer Bedell was persistent. At around 9:00 am, some 40 minutes later, Bedell and his Catalina apparently came so close to the convoy that they fell afoul of its air cover, a unit of five Nakajima Ki-27 fighters of the Japanese Army Air Service. Acting on orders from Admiral Ozawa to get rid of the RAF seaplane, Flight Leader Lieutenant Kubotani Toshiru had his Ki-27's make individual passes at the PBY. The Catalina trued to defend itself, but when the fifth Ki-27 took its shot, the flying boat exploded in midair.

On the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Flying Officer Patrick Bedell and his crewmates gained the unwanted distinction of being the first fatalities in a vast conflagration that in the eyes of most was still to come. 8 hours before Pearl Harbor the war in the Far East broke out.

Description
On 6th December 1941 night searches over the South China Sea with long range Catalina flying boats from the Royal Air Force's No. 205 Squadron were ordered. Accordingly, at 6:30 pm on December 6 a RAF Catalina under Flight Lieutenant R.A. Atkinson was dispatched from Seletar to try to find Japanese activity. At 2:00 am on December 7, after not hearing from their first PBY, a second, under command of Australian Flying Officer Patrick Edwin Bedell, was sent up to take over patrol.

Eventually, Atkinson's Catalina returned reporting that nothing had been found. Meanwhile, Flying Officer Bedell, his crew, and his PBY simply vanished. Far East Air Command in Singapore had no hard evidence as to what had happened to Bedell's plane, but they had strong suspicions that would have to wait until after the war for confirmation.

Bedell's Catalina had come very close to the Japanese convoi - far too close for the comfort of Japanese Admiral Ozawa. At 8:20 am on December 7, when Bedell was near Phu Quoc Island off the Cambodian coast, he was spotted by a floatplane from the seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru. The Japanese pilot Ensign Ogata Eiichi maneuvered onto the PBY's tail and opened fire. Whether the attack caused damage is uncertain, but the Catalina turned away from the convoi and neither pilot pursued the exchange further.

But Flying Officer Bedell was persistent. At around 9:00 am, some 40 minutes later, Bedell and his Catalina apparently came so close to the convoy that they fell afoul of its air cover, a unit of five Nakajima Ki-27 fighters of the Japanese Army Air Service. Acting on orders from Admiral Ozawa to get rid of the RAF seaplane, Flight Leader Lieutenant Kubotani Toshiru had his Ki-27's make individual passes at the PBY. The Catalina trued to defend itself, but when the fifth Ki-27 took its shot, the flying boat exploded in midair.

On the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Flying Officer Patrick Bedell and his crewmates gained the unwanted distinction of being the first fatalities in a vast conflagration that in the eyes of most was still to come. 8 hours before Pearl Harbor the war in the Far East broke out.