Beaufighter wreck found off Broome

[VH-XXX]

Only a couple of kms off Cable beach for 70 years!

What hope is there of finding MH370 !

Divers find plane wreckage off Broome's Cable Beach believed to be WWII-era RAAF Beaufighter - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-24/plane-wreckage-found-off-broome-cable-beach/5545638)

One of the engines:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/5544434-3x2-700x467.jpg

[Desert Flower]

What hope is there of finding MH370 !

Well they're looking in the wrong place for it for starters!

DF.

[sprocket check]

The RAAF was made to scuttle a whole heap by the RAF at the end of WW2. There'll be more.

sc

[Dora-9]

As posted elsewhere, this was Beaufighter Mk.XIc A19-163 (JM164) from 31 Squadron at Coomalie Creek, NT. It crashed on 18.9.1944, killing Flt Sgt RS Kerrigan and Sgt RG Smith.

[Dora-9]

The RAAF was made to scuttle a whole heap by the RAF at the end of WW2. There'll be more.
Sprocket,

Really? Do you have any facts or data please to back this up? While I'm wary of ever saying never, I'm skeptical of this assertion.

Did the RAF ever actually "own" these aircraft? Leaving aside the 365 DAP-built Mk.21's, the RAAF received a total of 218 UK-built Beaufighters, comprising the Mk.Ic, VIc, X and XIc. Although allocated an RAF serial on the production line, my understanding is that they all went directly from the factory to an MU for dis-assembly and packing prior to being shipped here, i.e. they were never Taken On Charge by the RAF.

A quick trawl through the marvelous ADF Serials website reveals that all the survivors post war were allocated to either 5 AD Forest Hill (Wagga) or 7 AD Tocumwal. There they remained until being Struck off Charge and Reduced to Components (i.e. scrapped) in 1948/1949.

I can find no reference anywhere to them being "dumped at sea", although admittedly my library isn't that extensive on this subject. It does, however, take a huge stretch to imagine them being transported from inland NSW to the waters off Broome.

Over to you....

[500N]

Sprocket

I also haven't heard of any being scuttled. In fact, can't see how they would have been apart from being broken up first, taken out to see and thrown overboard.

But from any research I have done, I thought most were taken to airfields like Oakey and Tocumwal as mentioned above.

Interestingly, I can't find any photos of Beau's after the war but need to have another closer look.

[By George]

I have a set of photographs taken over a ten year period of layovers of the Duxford restoration project. The airframe is finished but the project is now stalled. I am willing to send them to anybody who is interested, just send me a PM.


A brute of an aeroplane, but surprisingly even had some wooden bits in the tail-plane and fin.

[Dora-9]

I thought most were taken to airfields like Oakey and Tocumwal as mentioned above.500N,

With due respect, not quite.

5AD Wagga received nearly all the UK-built and about half the DAP-built Beaufighter survivors.

1AD Laverton received the other half of the Mk.21's.

Both 6AD Oakey and 7AD Tocumwal received a mere handful only.

There seems to have been an AD/type relationship; 6AD at Oakey seems to have been the final resting place for virtually all of the Spitfire and Kittyhawk survivors.

Cheers.

[VH-XXX]

By George, I can post them on here if you want, just PM me an email address.

[Brian Abraham]

The British FAA are reported by some to have dumped over 1,000 aircraft following the end of WWII off the east Australian coast. Under the lend lease argreement American aircraft were to be disposed of following the war.

http://www.histomil.com/download/file.php?id=8837

https://www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/6301888959/in/photostream/

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/heritagebranch/maritime/aircraftlossesnsw.pdf

[ruddman]

That photo. :{

Oh to go back in time and hanger all those beautiful aircraft. Then sell them 60 yrs later at highly exorbitant prices and retire on a island in the Caribbean.

[Dora-9]

Yes Brian, but the RAAF's Beaufighters, or actually any of their aircraft, were not provided from the US under Lend-Lease arrangements.

[Stanwell]

Dora-9, your post #4,
I agree. That wreck would have to be A19-163.
Also, the material I have to hand indicates that nearly all of the wartime Beaufighter survivors were 'reduced to components' and scrapped in Vic. & some in NSW.
A few served as target-tugs post war.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

Around 1952 - 54 (Well, the 50's something...) or thereabouts, my dad took me to the RAAF Richmond airshow, and during the performance of 'something' out over the field, a Beau came in RATHER low from over the hangars at the back of the crowd, while no-one was looking - and truly, I can remember we did not hear it until.....

I cannot remember if it was based at Richmond at the time, but think it may have flown in for the day.
I was impressed.

Cheers:ok:

[sprocket check]

I should have been more specific, in that the aircraft scuttled were Catalinas.

Scuttled off Rottnest Island, my ex RAAF father in law mentioned this once.

I think there was four of them.

[onetrack]

Four of the "Black Cat" Catalinas, that carried out the "Double Sunrise" service between Perth and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during WW2, were scuttled in waters somewhere between 40 and 200M deep, some miles off Rottnest, in late 1945 and early 1946.
Their precise location is unknown, despite numerous eyewitness reports. The fifth "Black Cat" was scuttled in waters off Sydney a few months later.
All the Black Cats were sunk by the use of explosives, resulting in massive damage to the aircraft, breaking them into many pieces.

The W.A. Maritime Museum was tasked to investigate the possibility of finding and raising at least one of the Black Cats for the Bullcreek Aviation Museum.
A study on the feasibility of this scheme was carried out - and while it was deemed feasible the wrecks could be located, the potential of being able to raise anything even remotely recognisable, and being able to conserve it, was regarded as being very low; and the entire proposal was recommended against, and was not proceeded with.

Black Cats - Report on the feasibility of locating, raising, and conserving one of four Catalinas (http://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/maritime-reports/black-cats-report-feasibility-locating-raising-and-conserving-one-four-catalina-fly)

The Black Cats Recovery Report (http://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/sites/default/files/no._125_the_black_cats_0.pdf)

[VH-XXX]

Pictures from the By George collection:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau1.jpg


http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau2.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau3.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau4.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau5.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau6.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau7.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau8.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau9.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/beau10.jpg

[emeritus]

Back about the mid eighties.....

In the crewing area at ADL. About to go out to the a/c to get ready for flt to MEL and in comes one of our senior pilots who commuted to MEL.

He began to tell us that he had found the answer to something that had he had wondered about since the end of the war.

He had just been whiling away some time in the terminal newsagent and had come across a book detailing the history of the Beaufighter and having flown Beaufighters in New Guinea during the war he turned to the section that detailed the history of each aircraft.

He then told us of what interested him.

Seems that at the cessation of hostilities some of the pilots resented being unable to have a last flight. Orders were that all operations to cease forthwith and the only flying that was approved was required test flights.

All aircrew were to be shipped out the following day

He and a fellow pilot convinced the Duty Officer that a certain a/c needed to be test flown. Having got approval for a spurious test flt off they went for a bit of a jolly.

They ,in their exhuberance or whatever paid less attention to their fuel useage than they should have with the upshot that they ran out of fuel on long final and crashed short of the runway.

They then returned to base, collected their gear, said nothing to anyone and boarded their transport back home.

He told us that for years he was in fear of a knock on the front door and to be confronted by the Authorities, but over time gradually forgot about it.

We were then told that according to the info in the book that particular a/c was "reduced to spares".

Wonder what happened to the Duty Officer and how it was explained.

One of many fascinating stories that we, who were priveliged to be their f/o's, heard over the years.

Emeritus

[Stanwell]

Since my last post, I'd unearthed my copy of the book "Whispering Death" by Neville Parnell - Even autographed by 20 surviving members of 30 Sqn, the author and 'Blackjack' Walker.

Griffo and I must have been at the same Richmond airshow because I remember exclaiming the 'kiddy' equivalent of "What the F... was that?"
I gather a few Japs had been equally surprised some years earlier

[gas path]

Griffo and I must have been at the same Richmond airshow because I remember exclaiming the 'kiddy' equivalent of "What the F... was that?"
Do you mean a bit like this??:}Spitfire low level - YouTube

[Stanwell]

YES!!
That's a beauty, isn't it?

[JandakotJoe]

Excellent images of the restoration project, XXX. :ok:

[OZBUSDRIVER]

The museum at Morrabin has a complete beaufighter that was in running condition when they got her.
Wish there was the incentive and money to restore to flying condition.:{

[onetrack]

Seem to recall the RAAF lost quite a few Beaufighters early in the piece, in low-level bombing training, with the problem being that the bombs regularly bounced back up and struck the fuselage, resulting in a disastrous total loss of both aircraft and crew? I recall it took a while before the RAAF realised what the problem was, exactly. Am I correct?

[Brian Abraham]

If you have a spare hour and a half to waste

Beaufighter - Whispering Death, The Forgotten Warhorse - YouTube

[Dora-9]

Onetrack:

I think you're thinking of 22 Squadron, which lost several A-20 Bostons due to fragmentation bombs colliding together and detonating immediately after release.

I'm not sure that the Beaufighter in RAAF service even carried bombs.

[onetrack]

Dora-9 - According to AWM, the Beaufighter carried up to 2000lbs (907kg) of bombs.

https://www.awm.gov.au/units/subject_621.asp

Yes, it may be the Bostons that I was recalling, in the story of the low-level bombing losses.
Can't recall where I read it now - such are the joys of advancing age, and a memory that's not as sharp as it was 30 yrs ago.

[Back Pressure]

My late father was a navigator on Beaufighters in the Solomon Islands (no idea what squadron etc).

He told me that they routinely dropped bombs on enemy shipping, and in fact I have some prints from the on-board camera showing a cargo vessel (not bombed so presumably a friendly).

I also have the small metal container with the earplugs he was issued. And the wizz wheel he strapped to his thigh is somewhere at my brother's place. Too corroded to be usable, but could be restored I guess. Wonder who might be able to do that ?

[Dora-9]

Onetrack - I stand corrected, thanks.

I was more thinking of the Boston's internal bomb bay, with which to carry fragmentation bombs.

I had the privilege many years ago to fly with Harold Rowell; I recall him telling me of the squadron's fury when, after the third aircraft was lost, they learnt that the powers-that-be "down south" had been aware of the problems for several months before the losses!

[dhavillandpilot]

My dad flew Beaufighters with 455 squadron out of Northern Scotland against German shipping in Norway.

He always said that when you let go all the rockets it was the equivalent of a destroyers broadside, and the force knocked 20 knots off the airspeed.

It was only in his last years he would talk about it.

Apparently he was one of the crew that took part in Black Friday when the Canadian, Australian, and British Beaufighters were bounced by a large group of FW190s. He told us he had one on his tail, a sure indication of being shot down, when a USA Mustang got the FW190.

I often wonder if this was the reason when he came back to Australia he transferred to a Mustang squadron and flew in Japan at the start of the Korean War.

[aroa]

Would be good to see someone find the B 24 that crashed off Broome during the big Jap raid also. Might answer a few questions about that one

In the 100 Sqdn Book about Beaufort WW2 ops there are anecdotes in there that give detail on the loss of aircraft due premature bomb detonation on release...witnessed from the following aircraft when unloading on Sepik targets.

Never did get to see the Tadji Beaufort relics but on Goodenough Is in the dump there were both UK and Oz airframes, Hercules sleeve valve engines and Pratt and Whitneys.

Alas ..no barge or bank balance !!:mad: I was involved in VH aviation!

[Stanwell]

aroa,
B-24 lost off Broome during a Jap raid?
You sure it was B-24?

[Fantome]

The Beau at Moorabbin today in the museum, when they got it it was
actually in a pretty sad state. Now, due excellent restoration, you can stand there and just marvel at the beauty of the beast.

From the excellent Geoff Goodall website -

•
Mk. 21
A8-328
RAAF BOC
9.9.45
TT
RAAF
Laverton VIC: fitted for target towing
11.50
RAAF Tocumwal NSW: del. for storage
2.2.56
Lord
Mayors Childrens Camp, Portsea
VIC
11.56/62
(trucked to Portsea ex RAAF Laverton 11.56
,
in playground on belly with undercarriage retracted
)
Moorabbin Air Museum, Moorabbin Airport
VIC
4.62/
14
(recov. derelict ex camp playground 4.62,
fully rest. as "A8- 328" to engine run standard,
later displ. as "A8 -39/EH-K")
nn: Australian National Aviation Museum, Moorabbin
00/14
____________________________________________________________ ____________________________

[Out Of Trim]

By George,

Nice collection of Photos, thanks very much! :ok:

[seafire6b]

Similarly to dhavillandpilot, my dad flew Beaufighters (also Sunderlands) with Coastal Command from Scotland during WW2. Very much a solitary man, the only wartime memories he'd ever recounted to me were purely anecdotes, and never regarding any actions against the enemy.

During what transpired to be my last visit to see him, at Melbourne in 2005 we spent a great afternoon at Moorabbin, where he stood for a while, silently staring at the Beaufighter. One of the older museum officials then approached him and asked if he knew anything about the "Beau". Within minutes they were engrossed in conversation, and then, to his delight, dad was invited to inspect the aircraft's interior.

Even aged 81, he was nevertheless still able to easily negotiate his way into the cockpit. I then went walkabout on my own around the museum, but upon returning some 20mins later, both men remained aboard, and still chatting about the Beau and stuff. Thank you Moorabbin!

[500N]

Stanwell,

Have a look at the web site ozatwar.com.

USAAF B-24A Liberator, "Arabian Nights", #40-2370

[Brian Abraham]

Found the website a bit difficult to navigate 500, but came up with the following - posted for those who may be interested.

Charles A. Stafford was the flight surgeon of the 9th squadron of the 7th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Djokjakarta in early February 1942, when 22 sailors from U.S. Navy cruisers Houston and Marblehead wounded in the Battle of Makassar Strait arrived. Stafford and local Dutch doctors worked late in the night to treat the sailors, most of whom had suffered severe burns. When the Japanese invaded Java on February 28, 1942, Stafford was instrumental in getting the sailors evacuated on the freighter Abbekerk.

In early March 1942 the Allied forces were evacuating civilians and wounded from Java through Broome, Western Australia, and on to Perth. Fearing a Japanese air attack, airplanes carrying evacuees were ordered to take off from Broome by 10:00 on March 3, 1942. At almost exactly that time, B-24 Liberator Arabian Nights (#40-2370) of the 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy), carrying Stafford and 33 wounded, took off from Broome for Perth. As the plane climbed through 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m), a flight of six Japanese A6M Zero fighter planes attacked Broome. Imperial Japanese Navy Warrant Officer Osamu Kudo was credited with shooting down Arabian Nights, which crashed 7 miles (11 km) offshore. Despite his efforts to save the wounded men, Stafford and all but two enlisted men — one of whom died after the arduous swim back to land — were killed in the crash and sinking of the aircraft.

Stafford’s remains were unrecoverable - posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his "devotion to duty and coolness under fire” in caring for the wounded sailors from Houston and Marblehead during the Battle of Java.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Broome_B-24_destroyed_P02039.jpg

B-24 burning on the Broome airstrip as a result of the raid

[Dora-9]

B-24 burning on the Broome airstrip as a result of the raid The remains of that Liberator, along with "bits" of other aircraft, were still to be seen in the dump SW of the field in the 1960's. The bullet holes in Horrie Miller's hangar were plainly evident too.

[onetrack]

There were some particularly brutal episodes during WW2, but the Battle of the Bismarck Sea rates up there with them.
A combined force of 335 RAAF and USAAF fighters and bomber attacked a Japanese convoy between March 2-4, 1943 and utterly annihilated the Japs.

The following video shows film taken by Damien Parer from a Beaufighter over the shoulder of Flt Lt "Torchy" Uren. Brutal footage shows Uren machine-gunning Jap survivors and lifeboats in the water - but this was done for a couple of days, after a Jap pilot machine-gunned parachuting survivors of a crashing B-17, and then machine-gunned survivors in the water.

This machine-gunning of Jap survivors was done on the orders of Gen. George C. Kenney, against Geneva Convention rules - but understandably done in a brutal response, to equally brutal savagery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVLV67xILI4

Warbird Information Exchange ? View topic - Pound'n the Japanese at The Battle of the Bismarck Sea (http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=173890)

I recall reading a Jap Naval officers recounting the utter terror the Jap seamen, operating shipping out of Rabual, experienced, when they saw a Beaufighter (or Beaufighters) approaching.

The RAAF Beaufighter pilots were exceptionally skilled at approaching the Jap ships at extremely low levels over the sea, making them difficult to hit. Then would get up close and then give the Japs all the firepower they had, plus bombs as well. The damage the Beaufighters inflicted on Jap shipping was horrendous. The seas between Rabaul and PNG are littered with hundreds of Jap wrecks, many of them victims of Beaufighters.

[500N]

I would think the problem with finding that wreck is diving on it.

And getting permission from the Aus government since it may well contain bodies, although that might be a good reason to find it if the US agreed.

[aroa]

Stanwell...yr Q answered by others

For a very good read about the Broome Raid get hold of a copy of "Zero Hour at Broome". Deals with all the aircraft and the whole sorry episode in detail.

A good follow up book is "The Diamond Dakota" that got shot up and beached north of Broome, by aircraft leaving the raid.

Tragic and dangerous times all round, indeed.

[Stanwell]

Thanks 500N, onetrack, Brian and aroa.
Now up to speed on that one.
Cheers.


p.s. .. and you too, Dora9.

[zac21]

The book "Diamond Dakota" is most definitely a good read,,,
:ok:

[500N]

Fora,

Thanks got the correction. I was being a Bit lazy so thanks for putting the full story.

I was in broome in the 80,s and people remembered the war years.

[Fantome]

From The Allen and Unwin website -

http://www.allenandunwin.com/BookCovers/resized_9781741147452_224_297_FitSquare.jpg



An extraordinary but true war-time tale of daring, mystery, luck and in excess of twenty million dollars worth of diamonds, and how they were lost, found and lost again.
Description

It's March 1942, and one of the last planes out of Java is about to fly terrified Dutch refugees away from the advancing Japanese army. At the last minute, a mysterious brown paper package is thrown to its pilot, Russian air ace Captain Ivan 'Turc' Smirnoff.

Heading for the supposed safety of Australia, the ill-fated DC-3 flew straight into the path of three Japanese Zeroes returning from a devastating air raid on Broome. Under heavy fire, Smirnoff miraculously landed the badly damaged plane on an isolated beach on the far northwest coast. The survivors were eventually found, but not before several had died from their injuries or thirst.

In the confusion, the package was forgotten.

Here, for the first time, is the full story of what really happened to Smirnoff's lost diamonds.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About a year ago there was a story in THE AUSTRALIAN about a man
who was in the area at the time Smirnoff's Dak was shot down. He was an airfield surveyor. He had an amazing story too, of how he travelled in the car from the mission where the survivors were looked after before going on to Broome. The surveyor travelled in the car with Smirnoff who was greatly agitiated because he had not retreived the package with the diamonds. As I recall the recent article, there was added info about the fisherman/looter who did pocket the packet. He was known for a while to buy stuff with the occasional diamond he fished out of his pocket.

[Fantome]

Found it . .. . The Australian 3 March 2012 . . (The book is 2006. .. . so this is a vital chapter the author did not discover)

A LETTER by a civil engineer working in the Kimberley during the Second World War has thrown a new twist into one of Australia's enduring wartime mysteries -- the disappearance of $20 million in diamonds from a Dutch DC-3 shot down by Japanese Zeros north of Broome.

Norman Keys's handwritten account of a meeting with the surviving pilot, the legendary Captain Ivan Smirnoff, challenges for the first time the accepted belief that Smirnoff had no idea he was transporting diamonds, along with Dutch nationals fleeing Java from the invading Japanese, when his plane crash-landed at Carnot Bay 70 years ago today.

The letter, one of two written by Keys and uncovered in the Australian War Memorial archives in December by Curtin University researchers, comes as Broome this weekend commemorates the horrific Japanese attack on the remote northwest outpost, often overshadowed historically by the bombing of Darwin 12 days earlier.

In the March 3, 1942, raid, which claimed 88 lives -- 20 of them children -- 48 Dutch nationals died when Japanese navy Zeros strafed Catalina and Dornier flying boats full of evacuees from Netherlands East Indies as the planes sat in Roebuck Bay waiting to be refuelled.

Nineteen injured US servicemen also perished when a B24 Liberator Bomber was shot out of the sky and plunged into the sea 8km off Cable Beach. Leaving 22 destroyed Allied aircraft in their wake, the Zeros were heading back to base in Dutch Timor when they shot down Smirnoff's Douglas DC-3, Pelikaan, about 60km north of Broome. The Russian-born Smirnoff managed to land in shallow surf, but many of his passengers were badly injured.

Hours earlier, Smirnoff had been instructed to take a mysterious cigar box-sized package as he prepared to taxi along the Bandung tarmac in Java, bound for Broome, then a strategic refuelling point for Allied aircraft and Qantas flying boats carrying out the aerial evacuation of Java. Smirnoff was told to guard the package carefully as it was of great value, but was not told of its contents. An official from the Commonwealth Bank in Australia would take possession of the box when he reached Australia. The diamonds belonged to two rich Dutch families who, along with both the Dutch and Australia, knew Java was about to fall.

In the four days that Smirnoff and his sick and dying passengers spent on the remote Kimberley beach, desperately searching for water and help, there was at least one attempt to retrieve the box from the damaged aircraft, but it washed out of the hands of one of Smirnoff's crew when a wave unexpectedly hit the Pelikaan. Four of the group died as they waited to be rescued, including an 18-month-old toddler, and were buried in the wet sandflats.

After again being attacked by a passing Japanese bomber that had picked up their position via a faint SOS call from the group's ramshackle radio, they were finally rescued by German Catholic missionaries from Beagle Bay, 60km or so north.

Smirnoff always claimed he had more important things to worry about than the package. His own account of the crash, published in 1947 nine years before he died in Majorca, Spain, details how, on his way to Sydney in the weeks after his rescue, he was approached by a "very correctly dressed" bank official in Melbourne and was stunned when told what was in the package. Smirnoff, who years earlier had knocked back a personal approach from Cecil B. DeMille to make a film about his extraordinary life as a First World War flying ace, wrote: "He introduced himself as a director of the Commonwealth Bank. 'Is there something you want to hand over to me,' he asked me with some urgency. 'To hand over to you?' I replied rather clumsily. 'The packet which they gave you in Bandung. Where is the packet?'

"Slowly it dawned on me. 'Lost in the battle,' I said, simply. I told him in brief words the history of our emergency . . . the banker appeared as white as a sheet. 'Well, what was in the packet?' I asked him with interest. I wondered in this same minute that I had not asked myself this question earlier.

"He then said in sombre tones: 'Nothing particular, nothing more than a few diamonds which had a value of 500,000 guilders.' I was absolutely taken aback."

But Keys's 1989 letter for the first time challenges Smirnoff's version of events. Keys spent the war building and repairing airports and landing strips in the Kimberley. After the attack on Broome, which he witnessed, he was asked to drive to Beagle Bay to bring four survivors of a crashed DC-3 back to Broome hospital.

He wrote: "When I arrived the four survivors were in a pretty bad way and Captain Smirnoff appeared to me to be delirious and kept repeating that he had to get back to the aircraft to pick up the diamonds. For a brief period we considered going back to the aircraft with some native guides, but it was decided that we had to get the survivors to hospital . . ."

Keys's son Graham, a Perth businessman, said his father always swore that Smirnoff knew the package in the Pelikaan was full of diamonds. "Dad always said the pilot knew there were diamonds there because when he was driving Smirnoff, who was pretty out of it, all the way back to Broome, that's all the pilot was saying, 'I've got to get the diamonds, got to get back to the plane and get the diamonds' . . . that's all this poor man was saying." He added it was "pure supposition" to suggest Smirnoff may have been planning something more sinister.

Keys's widow, Joan, now 90, said her husband was suspicious of the events surrounding the case. "Norm always believed Smirnoff knew (about the diamonds) . . . he could never understand why Smirnoff denied knowing they were in the package in the plane."

Nonja Peters, whose curatorial team at John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library uncovered the letters while preparing for today's Broome commemoration, said the case of the missing diamonds was just one chapter in the story of the Broome attack.

Norman Keys died aged 79 in 1994 after a career in engineering. The letters were among other personal items donated to the Australian War Memorial after his death.

So what became of the missing diamonds? A few weeks after the rescue of Smirnoff and his party, Jack Palmer, a dugong hunter and beachcomber, moored his lugger, Eurus, just off Carnot Bay after hearing a DC-3 had gone down. He and two Aborigines boarded the partly submerged plane looking to poach whatever they could , and stumbled across the package, among other things, and were gobsmacked when he opened it. Within days he had linked up with two other drifters, pearler Jim Mulgrue and mechanic Frank Robinson. Criminal masterminds they were not, and over the next six months diamonds were being thrown around in pubs, across card tables and in two-up rings.

Eventually the three were arrested and in May 1943 they appeared in the Supreme Court in Perth. Smirnoff's evidence was expected to be crucial, but the dashing airman told prosecutors he could not remember what had happened to the diamonds. All three were eventually acquitted.

As for the diamonds, Dutch authorities estimated less than a third of the diamonds that made their way on to the Pelikaan 70 years ago today were retrieved.

[onetrack]

There were many heroes in the Japanese raid on Broome on March 3, 1942 - and Captain Gus Winckel was one of them.
Gus had flown his Lockheed Lodestar on an eight and a half hour evacuation trip from Kalidjati in Java to Broome, with 22 passengers and crew, to escape the rapidly-advancing Japs.

He arrived at Broome at 5:30AM after the all-night trip, and after unloading his evacuees, he questioned the locals about air cover and protection for Broome, as he feared the Japs would strike - and soon.

The understaffed, under-resourced and generally complacent RAAF personnel at Broome, advised Gus there was little chance the Japs would strike Broome, as they were too far South, and out of Jap aircraft range.

No sooner had the conversation finished, when Gus spotted black dots diving in from the Indian Ocean. He said to the RAAF personnel, "Well, if you haven't got any RAAF air cover here, that must be the Japs arriving!! Sound the alarm!!"

Gus grabbed a .30 cal Browning machine gun from the Lodestar, and resting his back against a nearby handy tree, he commenced to pour dozens and dozens of rounds into one Zero that was strafing the Broome airstrip - and his beloved Lodestar.
Gus said later, he was furious about his Lodestar being destroyed - because he'd spent 600 hrs in it, in the previous 3 months, and he really liked the aircraft.

The Zero he attacked crashed within a short distance of the Broome runway. For decades, the downed Zero was presumed lost as a result of Gus machine-gunning it.
However, a recent book (2010) by Dr. Tom Lewis and Peter Ingman (Zero Hour in Broome) carefully analyses the the crash of the Zero, and claims that the tail gunner of "Arabian Nights" was more likely the one who downed the Zero.
Regardless, the authors of ZHIB did not downplay Gus' bravery.

Another Zero that Gus riddled with lead, was crash-landed by its wounded pilot on Roti Island, South of Kupang in Timor (500 miles from Broome).
The pilot was rescued initially by Roti Island native fishermen, and eventually made his way back to his unit.

Gus poured so much ammo through the .30 cal Browning machine gun he actually suffered from a severe burn on his forearm, where he'd cradled the weapon.
Gus lived to be over 100 years of age, and only died just a little under a year ago.

http://australie.nlambassade.org/binaries/content/assets/postenweb/a/australie/nederlandse-vertegenwoordigingen/import/nieuws/p1.pdf

http://australie.nlambassade.org/binaries/content/assets/postenweb/a/australie/nederlandse-vertegenwoordigingen/import/nieuws/p2.pdf

[500N]

Just shows how exposed the north of Australia was and that the concept of what had happened at Pearl hadn't sunk in and been related to Aus.

The loss of all those aircraft which would have been so useful.