Kimberly Hefling June 11th, 2009 Memorial to honor US troops killed in 1943 crash FORT MYER, Va. — It’s taken 66 years. But a memorial will be dedicated Thursday at Fort Myer, Va., to 40 U.S. soldiers killed during World War II in a plane crash in Australia. Officials say the 1943 crash is the deadliest in Australian history and the worst single plane crash in the Southwest Pacific in World War II. But it was considered a military secret. Some family members did not learn the circumstances until decades later. A group of volunteers called the Bakers Creek Memorial Association raised funds for the memorial. It has been on the grounds of the Australian Embassy until a home was found. There’s a similar memorial in Australia. The B-17C Flying Fortress crashed at Bakers Creek near Mackay in Queensland.
Bakers Creek Air Crash Memorial Place: Bakers Creek, Queensland, 4740 District: Central Coast - Whitsunday Orientation: 10 km S of Mackay Location: Contor Drive and Ivers Street, Bakers Creek (South), in grounds of Bakers Creek Community Hall Position: 21 13 20 S 149 08 82 E Ref: 40106 __________________________ The memorial consists of two brick pillars to which flagpoles and plaques are attached. Between the pillars is an airscrew of the type fitted to Douglas DC3 Dakota aircraft. Fixed above the propeller is a bronze model of a Flying Fortress aircraft that was added on 13 June 2003. Permission to reproduce the following account has been kindly given by the author, Col Benson of Mackay, Queensland. © During the Second World War, the United States Army Air Corps established rest and recreation facilities in Mackay Queensland, Australia. From the end of January 1943 until early 1944, thousands of United States servicemen were ferried almost daily from New Guinea to Mackay by air transport to spend around 10 days on furlough (R&R). They were usually carried by two B-17 Flying Fortresses converted for transport duties and an LB-30 (civil transport version of the B-24 Liberator bomber), stationed in Mackay with the 46th Troop Carrier Squadron, whose parent Unit was stationed in Townsville, Queensland. On Monday, 14 June 1943, just before dawn, at about 6 a.m., Boeing B-17C, Serial/Tail Number 40-2072, took off headed for Port Moresby. There were six crew and 35 passengers aboard. A few minutes after take-off, it crashed, at Bakers Creek, killing all but one of those on board. The cause of the crash remains a mystery. The aircraft took off into fog and, soon after, made a turn at low altitude. Rudy Sabbo and his brother, Dally, lived in Bakers Creek South. They were getting ready to go to work cutting sugar-cane when they heard the noise of a plane as though it flew almost over their home. A short time later, they heard an explosion. Initially, they thought it was a bomb dropped from the plane. When they went outside and looked towards Mackay Airport, they could see the plane must have crashed as they could see something burning through the fog. They ran about 1.6 km (one mile) to the crash along the railway line that passed by their home and across the bridge over Bakers Creek. As they approached the crash site, it looked eerie with fire burning in the fog. The crash is relatively unknown outside Mackay. According to war time diaries of Captain Sam Cutler who set up recreation facilities for the GIs in Mackay, it was the worst air transport crash in US history at that time. It remains as Australia's worst air disaster. It was also the worst aeroplane crash in the Pacific theatre of WWII, and of the 12,731 Flying Fortresses manufactured and operated in WWII. Due to wartime censorship, little could be reported in the media. The next day, "The Daily Mercury", Mackay's newspaper, reported that a visiting American serviceman had been injured. It also carried an editorial that expressed the sentiments of locals who knew what had happened. Nothing more appeared in the local media until after the was had ended, in February 1946. The victims' remains were flown to Townsville where they were buried in the Belgian Gardens US military cemetery. Early in 1946, they were disinterred and shipped to Hawaii for re-burial. Thirteen are buried in the Punchbowl cemetery, Hawaii. The remainder were returned to the mainland. Funeral costs for the latter are believed to have been met by relatives, but this has not been confirmed. Relatives of the victims received telegrams from the US War Department that said little more than the serviceman had been killed in an air crash in the south west Pacific. Evidence shows small notices appeared in local newspapers throughout the USA. None mentioned details other than the men were fighting the war in New Guinea and that the crash occurred in the south-west Pacific. Some reports have been obtained from US newspapers, such as the Julesburg Advocate, in north east Colorado. It reported the death of Sergeant Dean H. Busse and a memorial service, in June 1943, and a funeral notice when his remains were returned, in 1948. The American Legion appears to have organised those ceremonies. There is more information about the memorial, some of the personnel on the plane and US military connections with Mackay on Col Benson's website. East face of south pillar Metal plaque ON JUNE 14 1943, A VH-CBA B-17C AIRCRAFT OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE CRASHED SHORTLY AFTER TAKE-OFF APPROXIMATELY 1 KM N OF HERE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF BAKERS CREEK NEAR THE SITE WHERE THE MEATWORKS NOW STANDS. ON BOARD WERE FIVE CREW AND THIRTY-EIGHT PASSENGERS WHO WERE RETURNING TO NEW GUINEA AFTER COMPLETING "R & R" IN MACKAY. THERE WAS ONLY ONE SURVIVOR. THE AIRCRAFT WAS OPERATED BY THE 46TH TROOP CARRIER SQUADRON, OF THE 317TH TROOP CARRIER GROUP WHICH FORMED PART OF THE 5TH AIR FORCE. THE CRASH OF THE B-17C WAS THE WORST ACCIDENT INVOLVING A TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT IN THE SOUTH WEST PACIFIC DURING WORLD WAR II. THIS MEMORIAL WAS CONSTRUCTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE MACKAY DISTRICT IN HONOUR OF THE FORTY-TWO UNITED STATES MILITARY PERSONNEL WHO WERE KILLED AND THE ONE SURVIVOR AND WAS DEDICATED ON THE 11TH MAY 1992. East face of north pillar Metal plaque PERSONNEL ON BOARD CREW 1/LT VERN J GIDCUMB (PILOT) F/O WILLIAM C ERB (CO-PILOT) 2/LT JACK A OGREN (NAVIGATOR) S/SGT LOVELL DALE CURTIS (CREW CHIEF) S/SGT FRANK E WHELCHEL (CREW CHIEF) SGT DAVID E TILESTON (RADIO) PASSENGERS PFC JEROME ABRAHAM CAPT JOHN O BERTHOLD T/5 WILLIAM A BRIGGS SGT DEAN H BUSSE T/SGT JAMES A COPELAND SGT CARL A CUNNINGHAM T/5 GEORGE A EHRMAN PVT JAMES E FINNEY SGT LEO E FLETCHER T/SGT ALFRED H FREZZA PFC NORMAN J GOETZ S/SGT ROY A HATLEN S/SGT JOHN W HILSHEIMER PFC VERNON JOHNSON SGT DONALD B KYPER SGT CHARLIE O LARUE PVT RAYMOND D LONGABAUGH PFC KENNETH W MANN CPL MARLIN D METZGER PVT CHARLES D MONTGOMERY PFC JOHN W PARKER PFC FRANK S PENSKA MAJ GEORGE N POWELL SGT ANTHONY RUDNIK CPL CHARLES W SAMPSON PFC ARNOLD SEIDEL CPL JACOB O SKAGGS JNR CPL FRANKLIN F SMITH CPL RAYMOND H SMITH PFC FREDERICK C SWEET CPL EDWARD TENNY PFC DALE VAN FOSSON PVT RUBEN L VAUGHN PFC CHARLES M WILLIAMS
The Bakers Creek air crash was an aviation disaster which occurred on 14 June 1943, when a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft crashed shortly after take-off at Bakers Creek, Queensland approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of Mackay, killing 40 of the 41 military service personnel on board. One person on board survived.[1] The crash is Australia's worst aviation disaster by death toll and was the worst accident involving a transport aircraft in the south-western Pacific during World War II.[2] The aircraft, a Boeing B-17C, serial/tail number 40-2072, known as "Miss Every Morning Fixin" took off from Mackay Airfield[3] just before dawn at about 6 am in foggy conditions, headed for Port Moresby. Soon after, it made a low altitude turn and a few minutes later, crashed. The cause of the crash remains a mystery. The six crew and 35 passengers were returning to New Guinea after an R&R break. The aircraft was part of the United States Fifth Air Force and was operated by the 46th Troop Carrier Squadron, part of the 317th Troop Carrier Group.[2] It had formerly been one of the B-17s sent to the Philippines in the autumn of 1941 with the 19th Bomb Group and had been converted into a transport after suffering heavy battle damage in a mission on 25 December 1941. The survivor was Foye Kenneth Roberts who passed away at Wichita Falls, Texas on 4 February 2004. Due to wartime censorship, nothing of the incident was reported in the media. The Daily Mercury, Mackay's newspaper, reported the following day that a visiting American serviceman had been injured, as well as an editorial expressing the sentiments of locals who knew what had happened. Nothing more appeared in the local media until after the war had ended, in February 1946.[4] Victims' relatives received War Department telegrams which said little more than the serviceman had been killed in an air crash in the south west Pacific. Australia's second worst aviation disaster, the 1960 TAA Fokker Friendship disaster, coincidentally also occurred at Mackay.
High Ranking Ministers killed in Aircraft crash WW2 in Canberra Australia This crash took place in Canberra in 1940. High ranking military personal and three cabinet ministers were killed. Canberra air disaster, 1940 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
