The Rewan air crash occurred on 16 November 1943 when a Dakota C-47 of the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron of the 374th Troop Carrier Group crashed at

Rewan, Queensland Rewan is a rural locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Rewan had a population of 22 people. History All 19 people aboard a Dakota C-47 aircraft were killed when it crashed at Rewan on 16 November 1943 duri ...

, south of

Rolleston, Queensland Rolleston is a rural town and locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Rolleston had a population of 309 people. Geography Rolleston is located on the Comet River, west of Gladstone, 263 kilom ...

, killing all 19 people on board.Dakota C-47 Air Crash Memorial
Monuments Australia website. Accessed 28 August 2019. Those killed consisted of fourteen military personnel from the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...

and the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

, and five personnel from the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

. The aircraft was en route from Darwin to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, having already completed scheduled stops in Daly Waters and

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known a ...

.Crash of a C-47A Dakota on Rewan Station south of Springsure
''Oz at War'' website. Accessed 28 August 2019. It's believed the aircraft encountered a violent electrical storm south of Rolleston which caused it disintegrate and crash on Rewan Station. The wreckage was discovered on 18 November 1943. The bodies recovered from the wreckage were initially taken to

Springsure Springsure is a town and a locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Emerald on the Gregory Highway. It is the southern terminus of the Gregory Highway and the northern terminus of the Dawson Highway. It ...

before being transported to Rockhampton. The bodies of the Americans were then taken to

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

where they were buried, before being returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The bodies of the Australians were buried in the Rockhampton War Cemetery at the North Rockhampton Cemetery on 25 November 1943. A memorial, which consists of the aircraft's engines, wings and undercarriage, was erected near the crash site in 2004. It was dedicated at a special ceremony on 26 April 2004. Due to wartime censorship, there was no press coverage of the Rewan disaster at the time, which was similar to what occurred following the Canal Creek air crash north of Rockhampton and the

Bakers Creek air crash The Bakers Creek air crash was an aviation disaster that occurred on 14 June 1943, when a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft crashed at Bakers Creek, Queensland, Australia. The aircraft took off from Macka ...

near

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 ...

. There was only a fleeting mention of both the Rewan and Canal Creek disasters in Rockhampton's local newspaper ''

The Morning Bulletin ''The Morning Bulletin'' is an online newspaper servicing the city of Rockhampton and the surrounding areas of Central Queensland, Australia. From 1861 to 2020, ''The Morning Bulletin'' was published as a print edition, before then becoming a ...

'' in September 1945 at the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, almost two years after the disasters.(21 September 1945
Recreation and social side of US Army's stay
''The Morning Bulletin''. Retrieved 28 August 2019.

References

{{coord missing, Queensland Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas C-47 Skytrain Queensland in World War II Aviation accidents and incidents in Queensland 1943 in Australia 1943 disasters in Australia Aviation accidents and incidents in 1943

See also

References