Mission History
Took off from Tjililap overloaded with crew and civilian passengers and landed at Roebuck Bay near Broome. Taxing, it was sunk by A6M2 Zeros a mile from the coast.

Wreckage
King tides with a difference of 32' make the wreck accessible from shore at extreme low tides. The rear turret, aircraft tool kit and personal effects were salvaged by Stan Gajda in 1982. All are display at WAAM.

Stan Gajda adds:
"Although I did clear a section of the X-1 hull, in the center, the bow was there and one control column, but hard to spot. It is a real shame that my efforts to raise interest and funding to recover one of these wrecks and preserve it came to nothing."

Memorials
In 2000, the Broome Allied War Memorial was unveiled in Broome with the names of those killed aboard Do24 X-1.

Relatives
Jan Willem Piers (grandchild)
"My grandfather, Jan W. Piers was an aviation engineer of the Marine Luchtvaartdienst which means something like Naval Aviation Service. He was stationed at Morokrembangan near Soerabaja on Java. My grandfather decided to take his wife (Cor Piers) and two of his three children (Cor Piers and Frans Piers) with him on his flight to Broome. The oldest son was not on board of the flying boat, because he was in the army, fighting against the Japanese troops. On arrival in Broome the X-1 was attacked by Japanese flyers and my grandmother and the two boys were killed. My grandfather buried them on the beach of Broome. Fragments of the shot-down flying boats were used to mark the places were people were buried. My father and grandfather survived the war, though with serious mental and physical damage."

References
Dutch Institute for Naval History - passenger list
Thanks to Stan Gajda and Jan Willem Piers for additional information

Contribute Information
Do you have photos or additional information to add?

Last Updated
October 1, 2009

Do24

0-1m

Photo Archive