The Bakers Creek Air Crash: America’S Worst Aviation Disaster

By Robert S. Cutler

The unique feature of this book, and the tragic accident it documents, is not simply the number of deaths but, rather, the extraordinary loss that occurred to so many American families simultaneously and how important it is that people in Australia and America have ensured that this historic incident is long remembered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514489598

Robert S. Cutler

is a retired engineering professor from The George Washington University in Washington D.C. and New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, New Mexico. He earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree in Management Science from Stevens Institute of Technology. Mr. Cutler was a policy research analyst at the National Science Foundation and a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Tokyo in Japan. In 1977, he completed a 20-year ?ying career as a navigator in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. During the Vietnam War, he served as a combat crew navigator on C-141 and C-5A transport aircraft. In August 1999, he travelled to Australia to conduct research for a book about the U.S. Army Air Forces in Australia during the Second World War. Material for this book was drawn from his published articles: "WW II B-17 Air Crash in Australia, Uncovered," Air Power History (Spring 2003); and, "World War II Bakers Creek Air Crash,” Journal of Army History (Summer 2010), and Australia’s Worst Aviation Disaster, Boolarong Press, Brisbane (2014).

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Robert S. Cutler

All rights reserved

First published as Mackay’s Flying Fortress in 2003 by Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton, Australia.

Revised edition published as Australia’s Worst Aviation Disaster in 2014 by Boolarong Press, Brisbane, Australia.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016907010

THE BAKERS CREEK AIR CRASH

America’s Worst Aviation Disaster

in the Southwest Pacific War

by Robert S. Cutler

1. Cutler, Robert S., 1933 –

2. U.S. Army Air Corps – Australia – Philippines – Papua New Guinea Campaign – Military History – Air Transport

3. Aircraft Accidents – Australia 1943 – Bakers Creek Air Crash

4. Military Aircraft – B-17C Flying Fortress – Combat Bomber

5. World War II, 1941-1945 – Aerial Operations – U.S. Fifth Air Force

6. Bakers Creek Memorial – Mackay, Queensland, Australia

7. Bakers Creek Air Crash Monument – Washington, DC – America

Apart from fair dealing for purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under Copyright Act of 1980, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

ISBN:    Hardcover    978-1-5144-8961-1

                Softcover    978-1-5144-8960-4

                    eBook    978-1-5144-8959-8

Cover graphics by David A. Fischer

For further information, contact:

Robert S. Cutler

2556 Heritage Ridge Drive

Las Cruces, NM 88011

[e-mail]

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Foreword

Message From Australian Ambassador Kim C. Beazley

Introduction

PART I The Airplane

1 Mackay, Australia – June 1943

2 The B-17C Flying Fortress

3 Birth of B-17C (40-2072)

4 The Transpacific Flight

5 Clark Field, The Philippines

6 New Home in Australia

7 Christmas Day Air Battle

8 Directorate for Air Transport

9 The Re-Christening

10 46th Troop Carrier Squadron

Endnotes

PART II THE AIR CRASH

Prelude

11 The Final Flight

12 Assessment of the Calamity

13 Probable Causes of Crash

14 Conclusions

Endnotes

PART III THE REMEMBRANCE

15 Mackay Remembers

16 Wartime Snapshot of Mackay

17 The List of Casualties

18 The Bakers Creek Memorial

19 A Simple Act of Remembrance

20 Letters to Family Relatives

21 Father Murf’s Benediction

Endnotes

PART IV THE AMERICAN RESPONSE

22 46th Troop Carrier Squadron Reunions

23 The 60th Anniversary Commemoration in Australia

24 Downed and Buried by WW II

25 Pilgrimage to Mackay

26 The Riddle of the Ring

27 Search for Crash Victims’ Families

28 Families Learn of World War II Airplane Accident

29 Researchers Find Victims Families

30 All Forgotten, Officially

31 Monument Constructed

32 National Defense Authorization Act

33 Monumental Mission

34 Pennsylvania State Resolution

35 Fort Myer Memorial Ceremonies

36 70th Anniversary Commemoration

Endnotes

Biosketches Of The Fallen

Appendix

Bibliography

About The Author

Postlude

67389.png

First Lieutenant James T. Connally leads his crew from B-17C Flying Fortress (40-2072) at Batchelor Field, Northern Territory, Australia, after the first bombing raid from Australia by the 19th Bomb Group in mid-December 1941. The aircraft was one of the nine B-17C Fortresses that staged through Del Monte on Mindanao, Philippines, to bomb the Japanese landing at Davao Bay. Connally later became commander of the 19th Bomb Group. James Connally Air Force Base in Waco, Texas was named in his honor.

F-2%20%20%20%20MAP%20of%20SWPA%20(July%201942).tif

Map of Southwest Pacific Area - 1942

DEDICATION

In memory of my father,

Samuel L. Cutler,

and the forty-one American servicemen

he put aboard B-17C Flying Fortress (VH-CBA)

at Mackay Airport, Queensland, Australia,

on June 14, 1943.

In Memoriam

Foye K. Roberts, WWII 6 TCS – (Feb. 4, 2004)

CMSgt. Teddy W. Hanks, USAF (Ret.) – (Feb. 12, 2005)

Dale A. Adams, WWII Veteran – (Jan. 23, 2006)

Lt. Gen. Robert A. Appleby, U.S. Army (Ret.) – (Oct. 7, 2007)

Chester J. Kanach, WWII 46th TCS – (May 1, 2009)

Lt. Col. Michael P. Cataldi, USMC (Ret.) – (Feb. 2, 2011)

Delmer L. Sparrowe, WWII 46th TCS – (Dec. 27, 2013)

Romeo J. Costantine, WWII 46th TCS – (Mar. 12, 2014)

Lt. Col. Charles K. Gailey III, U.S. Army (Ret.) – (Feb. 22, 2016)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to acknowledge colleagues Colin E. Benson, in Australia, and the late Teddy W. Hanks, in America, for their extraordinary efforts during the past twenty years devoted to the Bakers Creek Memorial. This book would not have been possible without them.

I must express my sincere gratitude to Herbert S. Brownstein, formerly of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and author of The Swoose: Odyssey of a B-17, for generously sharing his research on the early wartime history of B-17C (40-2072) and his unpublished report on the Bakers Creek crash. They were valuable references.

My deep appreciation to the late Dale A. Adams, author of The Souvenir, and to Terry Hayes, local history reporter for The Daily Mercury, for generously contributing some of their thoughtful words.

Special thanks to retired USAF Lt. Gen. John Skip Hall, Jr., a former commander of the U.S. Fifth Air Force, who was instrumental in gaining official Air Force recognition for the Memorial, and to his successors: Lt. Gen. Paul V. Hester; Lt. Gen. Thomas C. Waskow; and Lt. Gen. Bruce Orville Wright who became personally involved in the project. And also to Lt. Col. (Ret.) Eugene D. Rossel, Air Commandos Association, Senator Arlen Spector (PA) and Rep. Gary E. Miller (CA), for in bringing the Bakers Creek story to attention of the U.S. Congress.

To Prof. David Myers (ole Silvertail), founding editor of the CQU Press, who was a guiding light and an insightful mentor and motivator, and to Jack Neufeld, editor of Air Power History, who read early drafts of the manuscript and provided valuable comments.

Thanks also to the staffs of The George Washington University library and the Davis-Monthan AFB library, for locating many of the research sources, to the University of Arizona’s Integrated Learning Center for technical assistance and the generous use of their world-class computer facilities, and to the following individuals who generously contributed their time to help make this book possible. They are: USAF Col. Timothy G. Murphy, Rod Manning, Reid Swift, Dr. George Benjamin, Paul Maynard, Mark J. Cutler, Romeo Connie Costantine, Delmer L. Sparrowe, retired Lt. Col. H. James Greene, Elliet Aronson, Stuart A. Markson, Norine Dresser, Clare Gailey, William H. Bartsch, who read drafts of the manuscript and provided valuable comments and encouragement.

To David A. Fischer, airplane model guru and pro graphic artist, who gave valuable advice about the B-17Cs and designed the cover art for the book. And to the late, Jim Metzger, whose older brother, Marlin, was killed in the tragic Flying Fortress crash, and who built a website to promote communication among the crash victims’ families to help tell the Bakers Creek story in America.

[www.home.earthlink.net/~bakerscreek]

I wish to express sincere appreciation to Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation, who led me to reflect upon a time I had almost forgotten. His recent book reminded me of the debt we owe to those who came of age during the great depression and the Second World War -- those who gave us the world we have today. He opened my eyes to another group of Americans, those who did not return from the war, to whom we owe the deepest gratitude.

Special thanks to Peter Frampton of Qantas Airways, Davis Brooks and Jennifer Pemberton of American Airlines, Rudy de Leon, of The Boeing Company, and to Del Sparrowe and Mikey Johnson for making it possible for us to send as a gift a bronze, scale model Flying Fortress replica to Mackay, Australia, in December 2002. The bronze B-17C replica was installed atop the Bakers Creek Memorial. on June 15, 2003.

To Jim Fowler, Creative Director of Definition Media, Ltd.(UK), for writing and producing a television documentary program about the WWII Bakers Creek Air Crash, that aired in the United Kingdom, Australia, and in the United States during early 2015.

[https://youtu.be/RU0ez9ceYPE ]

And to my wife Sarah, whose love, encouragement and tolerance has made all the difference in my life, and to our family, Mark, Debbie, Beth (OBM), Sally and Richard, and their children, so they may know the wider legacy their Grandpa Sam’s wartime diary. My dear sister, Joyce, gave me years of loving support for this project. Her family, Jennifer, Jane and Stephen, who also grew up with their grandfather, Sam, but without knowing many details of his wartime service in Australia.

I wish to acknowledge all of the errors and omissions as my own. Although much effort was made to locate the original sources of the wartime photographs used in this book, my sincere apology to those who may have been left out.

Finally, when I was first moved to write the original manuscript in September 1999, it was a labor of love. I did not anticipate the changes it would bring to my own life. It has been, simply, the most fulfilling professional project of my career and a deeply satisfying personal experience. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to share this nearly forgotten episode in the history of World War II in Southwest Pacific Theater, with you.

RSC

PREFACE

Early in 1942. General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia from the Philippines to take command of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific.

General Johnathan Wainwright surrenders Corregidor to the Japanese. Japanese planes bomb Darwin. Three midget submarines attack Sydney Harbor and Japanese infantry are marching along the Kokoda Trail towards Port Moresby, New Guinea.

Australia stands on the brink of invasion.

The Allies start fighting back at the Battle of the Coral Sea, Midway and at Guadalcanal.

At Bachelor Field near Darwin, an American B-17C Flying Fortress lies broken with over 1,100 shrapnel and bullet holes in her skin. This war-torn bomber had already performed sterling service in the air battle over the Philippines against overwhelming enemy air superiority. She limped home on a wing and a prayer, but no longer is combat-worthy.

Several months later, stripped of her heavy armament, she is made ready for transport duty to airlift badly needed supplies to beleaguered Allied troops fighting along the northern coast of New Guinea.

In March 1943, she begins daily transport service, ferrying dozens of American GIs for R&R leave from their jungle battlefields in New Guinea to the U.S. Army Rest Area on the northeast coast of Australia.

On June 14, 1943, she takes off from Mackay Airport on her final, tragic flight.

FOREWORD

When B-17C Flying Fortress (40-2072) went down in Australia in June 1943, the world was weary from years of war. The Allies had just defeated the Germans in North Africa and the Battle of Stalingrad ended in a Soviet victory. However, in the Southwest Pacific the situation was grim and uncertain. General Macarthur had launched his counter-offensive against the Japanese forces advancing in New Guinea and threatening an invasion of Australia. The converted four-engine Boeing bomber was headed for Port Moresby, New Guinea, the day of its ill-fated flight with forty-one American servicemen aboard.

The story is about a B-17C Flying Fortress airplane crash that took the lives of some of our finest combatants when they least expected to be in harms way. Moreover, it’s a story that could not be told when it happened, due to the sensitivity of U.S. military presence in Australia at the time and concern over inflammatory speculation about the cause of the mishap.

From the start, the primary purpose of the book is not to determine the cause of the crash or to assess blame. The motivation simply is to remember -– and to help bring closure to those families who never got an accurate account of the death of their loved-ones. These young soldiers and airmen died, not on the front lines of Europe or in the jungles of New Guinea, but in the service of their country, nevertheless, far from home and in good cause.

They deserve to be remembered.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of Professor Robert S. Cutler, Teddy W. Hanks (now deceased) and Colin E. Benson, Mackay RSL Historian in Australia, not only is the Bakers Creek air crash story finally known, but also a fitting monument honoring the tragic loss of these nearly forgotten World War II servicemen now stands on American soil.

It is my hope that by publishing this story the close relationship between Australia and America during World War II will be better appreciated. Our nations remain strong Allies and our continued friendship is based on such shared values as freedom, democracy and social justice.

Senator Bob Dole

Washington DC

June 14, 2007

MESSAGE FROM AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR KIM C. BEAZLEY

It has been 70 years since the B-17C Flying Fortress went down soon after takeoff from the Mackay Airdrome on 14 June 1943. During those seven decades, much has changed. Slowly, through the efforts of people such as Professor Robert S. Cutler, Colin E. Benson, Teddy W. Hanks, Rod Manning, Ed Casey, Terry Hayes and others, the Bakers Creek air crash story has emerged from the shadows of time.

With the second edition of this book, we learn the full story of the loss of forty American servicemen in a most unlikely scenario, and the remarkable efforts, both in Australia and in the United States, to remember them. Moreover, what follows could not be told when it happened due to wartime censorship, implications on American morale, and possible controversy concerning responsibility. We now have a clear accounting, as the incident takes its place in the history of World War Two.

The book pays tribute to the lives lost that fateful day in 1943 and also affirms the friendship the people of Australia share with many Americans.

We, in Australia, are enormously grateful to the Armed Services of the United States of America for the close relationship they have extended to us for many years. The most significant component of that relationship, I believe, began during World War II when a million Americans went through Australia during that period, and Australia was threatened by enemy invasion.

It was at the beginning of the Pacific war that my nation experienced its darkest days. Many Australian inhabitants at the time believed the country would fall to the enemy. And the confidence that it would not was built, to a large measure, around the presences of the American servicemen which began early in 1942 with the arrival of the American commander, General Douglas Macarthur. Historically, he is a bit of an ambivalent figure in the United States, but he is not in Australia. He was the commander of the Australian armed forces during the Pacific war, and prior to the Philippine Campaign, he had under his command 500,000 Australian and 200,000 Americans.

For much of the war, it was Macarthur’s fight with Australian soldiers, but not with the people whose sacrifice we commemorate here. They were the Americans who came at once. They were the Americans who built confidence in Australia that we could survive, that we could resist. They were the Americans who made sure we could survive and resist by putting their own bodies on the line.

In the course of wars, most of the deaths that happen don’t necessarily occur on the battlefield. Many deaths occur through illness, maybe illness picked up on the battlefield, but death also occurs elsewhere, and quite frankly, far too many by accident. A question often arises in the minds of some: Is there a difference between one type of death than another? The answer simply is, no, there is not. Not at all.

The men who perished at Bakers Creek were killed returning from a break – from a deployment, to a deployment – in a military aircraft. Their deaths in that deployment were every bit a contribution