USAAF
5th AF
43rd BG
403rd BS
September 1943
Pilot 2nd Howard J. Wood
Crew Lt Howard R Thomas, O-790734
Crew 2nd Lt Ralph M Hart, O-675188
Crew 2nd Lt Robert G McDonald, O-738996
Engineer S/Sgt John Hrywnak, 33345669
Crew T/Sgt Charles P Seip, 7033077
Crew T/Sgt Hyman Sylverstein
Crew S/Sgt Joel L Herndon, 34082449
Crew S/Sgt Donald F Wilcott, 16075243
Crew S/Sgt Samuel M Wilkinson, 33277954
Crew S/Sgt Samuel B White, 14044815
Crashed September 7, 1943
Aircraft History
This bomber cost $297,627.00.
Mission History
Took off on a reconnaissance mission from 7 Mile Drome near Port Moresby. Soon after take off crashed at at 4:25 am, crashing into a truck convoy loaded with soldiers on the eastern end of the runway.
59 were killed and 92 injured from the Australian Army 2/33rd Infantry Battalion, D Comapny. These soldiers were in trucks awaiting orders to board C-47 Dakotas bound for Nadzab Airfield via Tsili Tsili Airfield.
Veteran William Bentson recalls:
"I was in Port Moresby at the time of this crash. It happend at Jackson Air Strip. The B-24 was fully loaded with fuel and bombs. I went out to Jackson Air Strip, late that afternoon and even by them the crash site was really a mess. Recovery of the dead and aid to injured went on into the night. There were 134 Australian troops, of the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion AIF, in trucks, waiting to board other aircraft to fly to Nadzab and the B-24 crashed right into the trucks the men were setting in. 73 men were killed and 91 injured. The accident and loss of life was so appalling, it was kept secret from the Australian public for morale purposes. Even after the war it was rarely mentioned. It was the worst loss of the war suffered by the 2/33rd Battalion, which had fought in the Middle East, before campaigning in New Guinea. The the sad part of this crash, these men had survived battles in the Middle East and upon returning to Australia, were sent directly to New Guinea. The survivors were simply loaded on the next available plane and flown off to war, and less than two days later they were fighting the Japanese."
"Mexican Saboteurs" Rumor
After this tragedy, a rumor surfaced that "Mexican Saboteurs" caused the plane
to crash. Investigators found no evidence of sabotage and instead ruled the crash was due to disorientation
in the darkness.
Wreckage
Wreckage remained until the 1980s, until the construction of a runway extension, when the remaining wreckage was removed or otherwise disappeared.
Michael
Claringbould adds:
"In 1967 myself and several school friends tried to remove one
of the main under carriage legs which was still there. The crash
site was built over by a runway extension in the 1980s."
B-24
