Crash of Sdn. Ldr. Truscott's Kittyhawk near Townsville on 19 July 1942

The famous Squadron Leader Keith "Bluey" Truscott of 76 Squadron RAAF damaged his P-40 Kittyhawk A29-85 ("Y" for Wurry) near Townsville on 19 July 1942.

NOTE:- I have since found that the 76 Squadron Records show that this was A29-105 on 19 July 1942 when the squadron was moving from Townsville to Milne Bay.

Bryan Head of Murwillumbah advised me on 8 April 2000 that this accident happened on 19 July 1942 and that Truscott's aircraft was involved in a collision with Kittyhawk A29-71 (#41-5632).

Subject:   Beaufighter Crash near Birdsville
Date:           Sun, 18 Jul 1999 04:04:00 +0930
From:          Brian Greenaway <bg@taunet.net.au>

I did not notice mention of a Beaufighter crash near Birdsville. In 1948 I worked on Caddapan Station between Windorah and Birdsville and was fascinated with the tale told by Herb Rabig, eldest son of the owner who had served in England with RAAF during the war. He was flying mad still at that time.

Apparently a beaufighter had crashed somewhere near the property and he and a couple of others visited the site. They too one of the machine guns from the wing, straightened the barrel in a forge, mounted it on the cabin of a LendLease Ford truck, armed it with a belt of ammunition and set off after a mob of brumbies.

Several bursts from the machine gun did not hit any of the brumbies (approx 200 in a mob by the way) because the traces showed that the field of fire screwed around in all directions from the poorly straightend barrell. It was too dangerous and was eventually disposed of.

I worked for the American Red Cross canteen at Garbutt Drome during the first 6 months of 1943. I remember one of of our Ace Pilots dropping his Spitfire (it was actually a Kittyhawk) down on the tarmac too hard and breaking his landing gear which was fixed by the RAAF blokes there. I used to go over during my lunch hour and sit in the cockpit. As a 13 year old it was a fascinating experience. I think the pilot was Bluey Truscott. Would that be correct?

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