CRASH OF A LOCKHEED HUDSON
INTO THE SEA OFF TALLOW BEACH
BETWEEN BROKEN HEAD AND BYRON BAY, NSW
ON 6 JULY 1942

 

On 6 July 1942, RAAF Lockheed Hudson, A16-198 of 32 Squadron RAAF, crashed into the sea off Tallow Beach, between Broken Head and Byron Bay in northern New South Wales.

Lockheed Hudson A16-198 had departed from Horn Island on the morning of 6 July 1942, en route to Amberley airfield for the purpose of inspection. At 0145 hours, it landed at Garbutt Airfield in Townsville and after refuelling it departed on its second stage of the flight at 0350 hours. At 0817 hours a message was received from the aircraft requesting a flare path. At 1100 hours, Fighter Sector Headquarters reported that Byron Bay Police had reported an aircraft had crashed off Tallow Beach. Wreckage of the aircraft was found on the beach and some clothing of members of the crew.

The following personnel  were "Presumed Dead off Tallow Beach NSW":-

F/Lt Robert Thomas Trigg (467) (pilot), 32 Squadron
Sgt Douglas John Lovejoy (403752), 32 Squasron
Sgt David Leslie Bradley (30650), 32 Squadron
LAC Edward George Kimmins (22537), 32 Squadron
LAC William Edward Evans (24493), 32 Squadron
LAC Frederick Albert Charles Wood (24672), 32 Squadron
LAC Harold WIlmot Johnstone (24775), 32 Squadron
AC1 Edward George Merefield (25767), 32 Squadron
Sgt Gavin Athole Laurie McLaren (406859), 12 Repair and Servicing Unit, Charters Towers
Sgt Gordon William George Ridge (416231), 12 Repair and Servicing Unit, Charters Towers

 


Photo:- Simon Dunn

Sign erected by National Parks & Wildlife Service NSW at Broken Head in the Broken Head Nature Reserve

 

At 9:30pm on Thursday 2 January 2014, Ballina trawlerman, Brendan Puglisi and deckhand Shaun Cameron were trawling for prawns in about 180 feet of water on the vessel "Markane II" off Tallow Beach when they felt their vessel pull to starboard. After 10 minutes of the nets pulling to starboard they decided to pull the nets in. They pulled alongside their trawler a nine-cylinder radial, three-blade propeller aircraft engine.

Their $3,500 fishing net was destroyed and they were concerned that the heavily encrusted engine could damage the trawler's hull in the rough seas. One of the propeller blades had snagged on the fishing net's chain. Brendan contacted the Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum who referred them to Richard Gates at the Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome. The radial engine is now in the care of the Evans Head Living Museum.

 


Photo:- via Halden Boyd

Recovered engine on back of 4WD

 


Photo:- via Halden Boyd

Engine on back of 4WD beside the Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome Heritage Aviation Museum

 

Halden Boyd told me back in March 2003 that the Lockheed Hudson was enroute to Brisbane from Horn Island and got lost in bad weather, became starved of fuel and crashed. Halden said there were a number of eyewitnesses who reported hearing an aircraft flying very low at the time of its disappearance. It sent signals which were picked up at RAAF Station Evans Head, and it is  believed that a number of Avro Ansons were sent to look for it. The research on this project is by a former Evans Head RAAF member, Mr Bill Shrubb (deceased) and resulted in a memorial being unveiled at Broken Head a number of years ago. Halden has newspaper clippings of this. It followed a trawler pulling up a piece of the aircraft which was identified by experts as being that of A16-168. Halden has spoken with Bill's wife Hazel Scrubb of Wollongbar who gave Halden her husband's research material which led to a memorial finally being dedicated.

 


 

"The Northern Star" (Lismore, NSW) 16th June 1999. Article by Hannah Ross

Bomber Puzzle

Are the waters off
Broken Head crew's
final resting place?

Mystery surrounds an old piece of aircraft wreckage recently raised from the seabed by a trawler off Broken Head, but one man believes he knows its history.



Royal Australian Air Force veteran Bill Shrubb believes it comes from an RAAF Lockheed Hudson twin-engine bomber that a Lennox Head resident saw crash on a stormy night in 1942. The plane went down with 10 men aboard.



A spokesman from the RAAF Museum in Victoria yesterday confirmed the wreckage was part of a spar section from the wing of a Hudson bomber.



Mr Shrubb's case seems pretty cut and dried, given that Lennox Head resident Sid Gibbon saw the aircraft go down at 10pm on July 7, 1942, in the very spot where the wreckage was recently raised.



An airman's overcoat, with one of the lost crew member's name on it, was also found at the crash site in 1942 by Norman Todd, of Lismore, who at the time was stationed at the RAAF base at Evans Head and carried out an aerial search of the accident scene.



Mr Shrubb's research has also unearthed some of the events surrounding the crash.



According to Mr Shrubb, the bomber became lost on a flight from Horne Island in Torres Strait to the Amberley RAAF base near Ipswich, in southern Queensland.



He believes that due to low-lying cloud the crew was unable to find its destination and so continued south, possibly trying to reach the Evans Head RAAF base to land.



Approaching Broken Head with the plane's landing lights on, the crew must have realised that the fuel tanks were empty.



The plane carried on south then circled back. It is almost certain the crew was planning a forced landing on Tallow Beach, using Byron Bay lighthouse as the only guide on the dark night.



However, the plane crashed into the sea about 3km off Broken Head in 57 metres of water, with no bodies recovered. A semi-inflated life raft and the overcoat with the name Lovejoy on it was the only evidence of the tragedy.



Now, 57 years later, Mr Shrubb is lobbying for a commemorative plaque to be erected at Broken Head.



Mr Shrubb is hoping to gain support from the ex-services community and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which manages Broken Head reserve, to install a plaque to honour the men who died.



They were



Flt Lt R T Trigg
Sgt D J Lovejoy

Sgt G A L McLaren

Sgt G W G Ridge

Sgt D L Bradley

LAC E G Kimmins

LAC W E Evans

LAC F A Woods

LAC H W Johnstone

AC1 E G Merefield.



They were all members of 32 Squadron, which at the time was based at Horn Island.

 

REFERENCES

War History hauled in from local waters
Northern Star 7 January 2014

"The RAAF Hudson Story, Book One"
by David Vincent

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Greg Williams, Halden Boyd, John Winterbotham and Gordon Clark for their assistance with this home page.

 

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

 

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This page first produced 21 December 2001

This page last updated 27 February 2020