The Bakers Creek air crash was an aviation disaster that occurred on 14 June 1943, when a
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF)
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
aircraft crashed at
Bakers Creek, Queensland
Bakers Creek is a rural town and coastal locality in the Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Bakers Creek had a population of 1,161 people.
Geography
Bakers Creek is located south of Mackay. The Bruce Highway and the ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The aircraft took off from
Mackay Mackay may refer to:
*Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives
Mackay may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Mackay Region, a local government area
** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region
*** Mackay Airpor ...
and crashed approximately south of the airfield. Forty military service personnel on board were killed; one person survived the crash. The crash is Australia's deadliest aviation disaster by death toll and was the deadliest accident involving a transport aircraft in the south-western Pacific during World War II.
Aircraft
The aircraft was a Boeing B-17C,
serial number
A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it.
Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...
''40-2072'', known as "''Miss Every Morning Fixin''".
The six crew and 35 passengers were returning to
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
after an
R&R break. The aircraft was part of the United States
Fifth Air Force
The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organiza ...
, operated by the
46th Troop Carrier Squadron of the
317th Troop Carrier Group
The 317th Operations Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit, last stationed at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina as part of Air Mobility Command. It was activated in 1992 during the Air Force's Objective Wing reorganization, and ina ...
.
[ It had formerly been one of the B-17s sent to the Philippines in the autumn of 1941 with the ]19th Bomb Group
The 19th Operations Group (19 OG) is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 19th Airlift Wing, stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas.
Equipped with the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, the group provides part of Ai ...
. It had been converted into a transport after suffering heavy battle damage in a mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
on 25 December 1941. Over 1,100 bullet holes were found when the plane returned to Darwin.
The plane earned its nickname due to the constant work needed to keep it airworthy. A former maintenance chief estimated that for every eight hours the aircraft flew, it required at least 12 hours of maintenance. During the ten days before the plane's last flight, mechanics installed a new fuel tank and two new engines, and a satisfactory test flight was made on the previous day.
Crash
The aircraft took off from Mackay Airfield just before dawn at about 6 am in foggy conditions, headed for Port Moresby
(; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...
. Soon after, it made a low-altitude turn and crashed a few minutes later. All but one person on board was killed. The cause of the crash remains a mystery.
The sole survivor of the crash, Foye Kenneth Roberts, died at Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...
, Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, on 4 February 2004. Another man, Joseph Gordon Roberts of Texas, also of the 317th Troop Carrier Group, was due to be a passenger on the plane but missed the flight due to sleeping in and arriving late at the airfield.
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 21 August 1945, after the war had ended. Victims' relatives received War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* Dep ...
telegrams which said little more than the serviceman had been killed in an air crash in the southwest Pacific.
Australia's equal second deadliest aviation disaster, the 1960 crash of Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538
On 10 June 1960, a Fokker Friendship passenger aircraft operated by Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) was on approach at night to land at Mackay, Queensland, Australia when it crashed into the sea. All 29 people on board Trans Australia Airlines F ...
, also occurred at Mackay Airfield.
Memorials
A memorial was unveiled at Bakers Creek, near Mackay, Australia, on 11 May 1992, consisting of two brick columns aligned northwards on which are mounted flag poles and two brass plaques facing eastwards. Between the columns is a large aircraft propeller of a type fitted to Douglas C-47
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in f ...
airplanes supplied to the Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
. The plaques describe the crash and list the men known to have perished and the sole survivor. Above the monument is a brass model of a B-17C that was unveiled and saluted by a low-flying 5th AF United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
Lockheed C-130
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...
from Yokota AB Yokota ( ja, 横田, 與古田, etc.) may refer to:
* 6656 Yokota, an asteroid
* Yokota Shōkai, a Japanese film company
Places
* Yokota Air Base, a US Air Force Base located in Tokyo, Japan
* Harima-Yokota Station
* Iyo-Yokota Station
* Yoko ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, on 15 June 2003, during 60th Anniversary events marking the crash. A small brass plaque tells about the model. Two brass plaques representing the 46th Troop Carrier Squadron and the 5th Air Force Memorial Foundation are mounted on a plinth in front of the Bakers Creek Memorial. Inside, a spotlight illuminates the memorial for several hours each night. Annual commemorative ceremonies are held at the memorial, usually in June.
Another memorial to the US service members was unveiled in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, on 14 June 2006, at the World War II Memorial
The World War II Memorial is a national memorial in the United States dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as civilians during World War II. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The memorial consists ...
. After the unveiling, it was moved temporarily to the Embassy of Australia, Washington, D.C.
The Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Commonwealth of Australia to the United States. The chancery is temporarily located in the National Geographic Building at 1145 17th Street NW. This temporary location wi ...
. Because embassies are considered foreign soil, the Bakers Creek Memorial Association (USA) petitioned American lawmakers to relocate the memorial. After several years of negotiation, a dedication ceremony took place on 11 June 2009 at the Selfridge Gate entrance—in Fort Myer
Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and Fort Whipple, t ...
, Virginia—to Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.
See also
* List of disasters in Australia by death toll
This is a list of disasters in Australia by death toll.
100 or more deaths
50 to 99 deaths
20 to 49 deaths
Between 10 and 20
Gallery
Image:Port arthur outside.jpg, The Port Arthur massacre claimed 35 lives in 1996 when Martin Bryan ...
* United States Army Air Forces in Australia
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces established a series of airfields in Australia for the collective defense of the country, as well as for conducting offensive operations against the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. From thes ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Aviation Enthusiast Corner - details of the crash
{{B-17 family
1943 in Australia
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1943
Aviation accidents and incidents in Queensland
Disasters in Queensland
Mackay, Queensland
Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
1940s in Queensland
Queensland in World War II
1943 disasters in Australia