Wartime wreckage on Mornington ISland

[frangatang]

Many moons ago when l was prawn spotting in the gulf of carpentaria, at a low tide you could see part of the fuselage of an american bomber buried in the sand to the north east of the island. I do remember an article about it in the 80"s and it may have been a B29, but have long lost it.Anyone have info on it?
Moving further up the coast there were 2 Aircobras crashed on the beach just north of duyfken point north west of weipa,which were always of interest

[fruitloop]

Hope this is of help.
http://www.picknowl.com.au/homepages/linux77aust/foyer/crash.htm
Cheers

A bit more for a read.
http://home.brisnet.org.au/~dunn/26apr42.htm

"Most"have been destroyed or collected.

[compressor stall]

A great reference that.

Love the story attached to #189 on the first link you gave!

These lists are incomplete as the wreckage I found on Cape Melville/Princess Charlotte Bay is not listed.

CS

[fruitloop]

compressor stall
You are 100% correct . Due to the military 50 year "code of silence" there are a lot more "wrecks"about then are mentioned in a lot of archives.
Cheers

[Crogs]

Back in the 70's a couple of those Cobra's were retrieved from the cape by a bunch of guys from Cairns. They were brought back to Cairns with the intention of restoring one. There were a number of guys involved. The only ones I know of are Nick Watling from RFDS and Ian Mullins, an FSO. The restoration eventually ended up in Mt Isa where Ian Mullins continued on with the job. Ian retired in the late 80's from Mt Isa and took the aircobra to Townsville where he continued to painstakingly restore the aircraft. The time and effort that went into that restoration up to the last time I saw it was amazing. I lost track of Ian when he left the Isa.
Anyone know if he finished?:ok:

[currawong]

Project was for sale recently? Restoration was thorough but not to airworthy - believe buyer is to start over with a view to FLYABLE...

The other is at Sid Becks museum in Mareeba. Worth a look if in the neighbourhood. In pretty much as found condition - which is quite remarkable.

[Kubin rock climber]

Nick and Ian's Cobra sold about 18 months to 2 yaers ago to a mob in Glenrowan Vic, with a view to restoring it to flying condition. When last seen (pre sale) it was essentially complete and everything worked! Gear and flaps, instruments and radios. An excellent restoration. I belive the biggest job restoring to flying condition will be replacing the main spar that was steel (Aircraft grade aluminium too expensive for static a/c), and finding a prop. Hope to see it flying sometime soon.