RAAF
4 Squadron
Former Pilot FLG OFF Stan Bromhead
Wartime History
Ground looped on landing at Cape
Gloucester on May 18, 1944.
It was then transported to Nadzab
for repairs by a RAAF salvage unit at Newton
Field (Nadzab No. 4). There, it was abandoned as it was too
damaged to repair.
Recovery & Display
Center section salvaged by Charles
Darby, and recovered to Lae in the mid-1970s.
Charles Darby recalls:
"Someone in Lae told us that 'there's nothing left at Nadzab'. Being a cantankerous old bugger who doesn't necessarily believe anything he's told, I decided that we would go and look for ourselves. In the course of one afternoon we found the remains of about 30 aircraft ranging from CG-4A assault gliders to a B-25, and including four Boomerangs of which A46-174 was one. David [Talichet] later decided he did not want the Boomerangs, so Armstrong and I later shared them out amongst ourselves."
After its export, it was sold to Weeks Fantasy of Flight Museum where it is on display unrestored to this day.
References
Pacific Aircraft Wrecks page 22 (upper & left)
Boomerang
