Memories of Air Force flying during WWII leads to reflections
on events gradually leading to that stage of life. In my case,
early childhood days were spent on the family dairy farm in
south Queensland.
During the mornings and afternoons, a clattering roar overhead
heralded the slow passage of the Sydney/Brisbane-bound airline
planes, the trimotored Avro 10.
To a small boy, the romance of flight began there. And at the
same time, the headline accounts of the world flights of Kingsford
Smith and his crew in the SOUTHERN CROSS, a Fokker trimotor,
a parent relative of the Avro 10, fuelled the flames of desire
to be a pilot when one grew up.
So, following an early teenage obsession with model plane building
and flying, the arrival of World War Two hinted at the chance
to complete that childhood ambition. But RAAF entry conditions
were very high, reflecting peace-time regulations.
Eventually in 1941 Japan upset the American apple-cart with
a brilliantly
staged attack on Pearl Harbour, in response to an American embargo
on oil
and aviation fuel to Japan prompting the attitude.... if you
won't supply, we'll take it by force from Southeast Asia.”
And so, a few months later, my entry in the RAAF training cadet
camp north of Eagle Farm cow pasture on the outskirts of Brisbane
came to pass.
Today that cow pasture is Brisbane's International Airport.
The cadet school was within earshot of American P39 Bell Airacobra
single-seat fighters, moved there on route to the Philippines,
when the Japanese forces secured those Islands. Of course, the
engine noise of the P39s was music to a potential pilot's
ears.
The BITE of the ‘COBRA - a Story of NINE
One morning, some of these budding ace received a different
view of military aviation.
A high pitched whine from way up high resolved itself into
a P39, diving steeply through low cloud, directly into the sea
water adjoining the training camp.
Evidently the pilot mis-read his altitude, and cloud obscured
ground features until he dived through that cloud. Too late!
So, on the camp, some thoughts turned to changing from becoming
pilots to a more secure occupation, which was again reinforced
later that afternoon. Then, a pair of low flying Airacobras
thought to be from a squadron based on the Eagle Farm cow pasture,
came flying low over the area, and began circling the ocean
spot a few hundred yards offshore, where the P39 and pilot lay
buried.
Suddenly, a burst of foam from a P39 wingtip, a quick cartwheel
on the water, and he joined his mate down below. Camp conversation
that night was quite subdued.
The ‘Bush Telegraph' of the day was awash with
another P39 disaster. Apparently a flight of six P39s had left
the far north Queensland town of Cooktown, bound for Horn Island,
at the tip of Cape York Peninsula, and had not arrived! An extensive
search was underway for the missing aircraft. As good as the
Bush Telegraph was, almost exactly 50 years were to pass before
I learned the full story of that flight.
In 1992 during the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of
the Battle of the Coral Sea, one of the surviving pilots of
that flight made a return visit to Australia. As there had been
previous correspondence, the pilot, Walter Harvey, came primed
with all the details, having dusted off and consulted his old
logbooks.
Walter begins his story:- “
I landed in Melbourne, Australia on February 2, 1942 with the
9th Squadron, 49th Pursuit Group. We were the first Americans
to arrive in Australia.
Our Group was on the high seas headed for the Philippines
Islands. When the Philippines fell, we were re-routed to Australia.
Our Group moved to Newcastle where we trained in P-40 Kittyhawks.
Early in March, 25 pilots were split out of the 49th Group and
left in Newcastle to join the 8th Pursuit Group, which was to
arrive shortly.
The 49th Group left Newcastle for Darwin on March 9, 1942.
My Group left Newcastle and joined the 8th Group in Brisbane
on March 16. I was assigned to the 36th Squadron,which was then
in training at Lowood R.A.A.F. Station. We trained in P-39s
there and on March 31 we moved up to Townsville. Col. Buzz Wagner
was commander of U.S.A.A.F. at this time and on April 26th we
were ordered to Port Moresby.
Two flights left on April 26th and two flights on April 28th
along with all ground personnel. ‘D' Flight was
left behind to bring up some new ships which were due to arrive.
“D Flight was commanded by Lt. Charlie Falletta and made
up of Lt. Robert Yount, Lt. Robert Love. Lt. Andrew Cook, Lt.
Fred Taylor and myself.
May 1, 1942 ‘D' Flight left Townsville and stopped
at Cooktown to refuel. We departed Cooktown approximately 1
p.m. for Horn Island. The nearer we got to Horn Island, the
worse the weather, until finally we were flying at 100 ft. altitude
in rain and fog. Radio and radar were none too good in those
early days, and our flight leader was unable to find Horn island.
After searching the area until our fuel supply was running
real low, we turned back towards Australia. We were flying over
bush and jungle when Falletta's ship ran out of gas and crashed.
My fuel gauges were both indicating empty”, so I made
wheels up ”landing near Charlie Falletta. The rest of
the flight became scattered and headed towards the beach. The
remaining four pilots made the beach and belly-landed there.
However, Lt. Bob Love was killed when his ship caught a wing
tip and cartwheeled. Charlie Falletta and I took two days to
walk to the beach. The first day an Australian Short Sunderland
spotted us and tried to land off shore but could not because
of reefs. They dropped us a message that a crash boat from Horn
Island would pick us up.
We stayed on the beach for two days and two nights without
food or shelter. I will never forget how hot it was during the
day, and then how cold it would get at night. It rained all
night both nights and we fi nally had to dig trenches and cover
ourselves with sand to keep from freezing. The Australian patrol
boat picked us up late in the afternoon on May 4th. We arrived
at Horn Island at 6 p.m. on May 5, 1942.”
The P39 Walter fl ew that fi rst day of May, 1942, 41-7215,
had been recovered and was in the process of being restored.
Walter had the dubious honour of being reunited with his steed,
almost exactly 50 years after the events related. The remaining
fi ve pilots of that flight survived WWII and attended many
reunions. Walter Harvey passed away in 1998 at the age of 81.
And over sixty years after our cadet training camp days, via
the magic of the World Wide Web, can be found details of a 1942
plane crash witnessed by a WAAF Sgt Craig, based at Sandgate.
The website is pandora.nla.gov.au and part of the site relates.
“We all waited and watched with disbelief as a plane nose
dived from a great height, straight into the sea. We all held
our breath, willing the pilot to pull out of the dive, but he
seemed to make no effort to do so. Speculation or rumour at
the time was that he was a buddy of a pilot killed earlier in
the day, the truth of which I suppose we will never know. Further,
another website, www.mindspring.com relates that Malcolm Sponenbergh
was the surviving pilot of the two P39s fl ying over the water,one
of which dipped a wingtip and crashed.
At the time, we all thought only one P39 of that pair crashed,
but it transpires that the two P39s actually collided when the
pilot of one P39, “Whip ”Austin, collapsed over
the controls due to an accumulation of smoke or fumes in the
cockpit.
Austin's P39 crashed into the water, and very shortly after,
wingman Sponenbergh bailed out of his stricken P39 at a very
low level. Sponenbergh was rescued by a passing fishing boat,
and survived WWII.
Malcolm Sponenbergh relates that he returned to Australia
in 1993, and on a visit to Redcliffe, renewed his acquaintance
with one of his fishermen rescuers, and others.
==============
