Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
The Kohima Educational Trust is delighted to announce our next webinar with Dr Robert Lyman MBE who will introduce our guest speaker, historian and author Dr Andrew Kilsby.
The air war over Burma and in the wider theatre over Indo-China, the former Netherlands East Indies, the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, Singapore and Malaya, Thailand, China and India saw hundreds of fatal casualties among Allied airmen between December 1941 and 1945. The air war was fought against a relentless enemy, unforgiving terrain including mountains and jungles, an oppressive tropical climate and monsoonal weather.
Air crew who were forced to land away from their bases due to mechanical failure, enemy action or misadventure faced very uncertain outcomes. Many were killed or died of wounds in unforgiving crash landings or accidents, some were never heard of again or were never recovered, including those lost at sea, some were murdered by anti-British Burmese, others taken prisoner by the brutal Japanese, or died in attempts to return to friendly lines. Yet among those aircrew forced down for whatever reason, there were also some amazing escapes from death.
In this webinar, Robert Lyman will discuss with Australian historian Andrew Kilsby some of the stories of downed airmen that he came across during the research for his recently published book (with Daryl Moran) Resolute; The Australian Air War in Burma 1942-1945.
The Kohima Educational Trust is delighted to announce our next webinar with Dr Robert Lyman MBE who will introduce our guest speaker, historian and author Dr Andrew Kilsby.
The air war over Burma and in the wider theatre over Indo-China, the former Netherlands East Indies, the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, Singapore and Malaya, Thailand, China and India saw hundreds of fatal casualties among Allied airmen between December 1941 and 1945. The air war was fought against a relentless enemy, unforgiving terrain including mountains and jungles, an oppressive tropical climate and monsoonal weather.
Air crew who were forced to land away from their bases due to mechanical failure, enemy action or misadventure faced very uncertain outcomes. Many were killed or died of wounds in unforgiving crash landings or accidents, some were never heard of again or were never recovered, including those lost at sea, some were murdered by anti-British Burmese, others taken prisoner by the brutal Japanese, or died in attempts to return to friendly lines. Yet among those aircrew forced down for whatever reason, there were also some amazing escapes from death.
In this webinar, Robert Lyman will discuss with Australian historian Andrew Kilsby some of the stories of downed airmen that he came across during the research for his recently published book (with Daryl Moran) Resolute; The Australian Air War in Burma 1942-1945.
