A16-162

[cristo]

Photo of A16-162 after it crashed in the channel between Hinchinbrook Island and the beach at Cardwell Queensland 5/5/42 from the Cairns Historical Society collection.
The photo was taken after the plane was recovered to the beach

This post has been edited by cristo on Jul 29 2021, 03:52 PM

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[cristo]

On 5/4/42 during the battle of the Coral Sea A16-162 departed RAAF Garbutt in Townsville on a long ocean patrol of the Coral Sea. Returning to Townsville it ran into a fierce storm and with the Townsville radio beacon turned off it was unable to find its base and now in darkness while attempting to break through the low cloud base it ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea in the channel between Hinchinbrook Island and Cardwell. Fortunately the empty fuel tanks allowed the plane to remain afloat in shallow water near the mangroves on the island.
416260 Sgt Graham Stanly James who was in the nose of the aircraft was killed in the impact.

416253 Sgt Geoffrey Eric Fletcher who was the rear gunner dragged the injured pilot 405113 F/Sgt Alwyn Samuel and copilot 405301 Sgt James William East from the wreckage and ashore in the mangroves. He then returned to the plane and retrieved the body of Sgt. James and a parachute to build a hammock for the injured. They spent the rest of the night in the mangroves.

The crash was heard by Cardwell locals and a search was organized . Sgt Fletcher swam out to contact one of the search boats in the early dawn and the injured crew were taken to the Tully hospital. Sgt James was buried at Tully cemetery.
Sgt Fletcher returned to duty at Garbutt and never received any official recognition for his efforts.
The aircraft was salvaged to the beach at Cardwell, dismantled and railed to Garbutt where it was converted to components.
The photo was taken after the plane was towed to the beach at Cardwell

[Brenden S]

Always nice to see these historic images still popping up.