USAAF
5th AF
90th BG
400th BS
November 15, 1942
Richard Rudd, 1983
M Musumeci, 2007
Pilot Dale Thornhill
Force Landed
November 15, 1942
Aircraft History
Constructor Number 513. This bomber had a large Condor nose art on the left side of the nose, nickanmed "The Condor".
Mission History
This bomber experienced fuel transfer problems returning from a bombing raid in New Guinea. A few miles short of its base at Iron Range Airfield, it force landed on Quintel Beach at Iron Range.
Attempts to salvage this bomber by raising the left wing and lower the landing gear failed. The propellers and cowlings were removed from he undamaged right wing, and other gear from the bomber. The rest was abandoned.
Wreckage
Wreckage remains to ths day on Quintel Beach.
Richard Rudd adds:
"When I was working around Iron Range in the late 50s, there was an old cattleman, who used to run a pack team from Coen to Iron Range during the war, Hans Samuel Carlsen, a tall gangly fellow. His bush nickname was "Spider". He used to tell may funny stories about the US troops there, and mentioned the 'big bang' when the bomb load blew up.
Near Quintell Beach, he had a cottage/shack, made of bush materials, and on visiting there one time he showed me the big liquid compass that he had been given from the B-24 "The Condor" on the beach. He showed me the spot where there were some bits sticking out of the sand.
He had been gold mining on Horn Island at the start of the war and told me he saw the first Jap plane shot down over the Cape. And the ring he wore, was made of white metal from the engine, and the horse's head inlay, was of gold that he had mined."
References
Roger Marks booklet, page 24 - 25
Thanks to Richard Rudd for additional information
B-24
