CRASH OF A LOCKHEED VENTURA
AT GOULD AIRFIELD, NT
ON 27 JANUARY 1945

Lockheed Ventura A59-84 of 13 Squadron RAAF crashed about 800 yards south east of Gould airfield in the Northern Territory on 27 January 1945 with the loss of 6 lives as follows:-

F/Lt George Alexander Anderson (22465)
F/O Charles George Watts (423956)
F/O Murden Anderson Chowns (426311)
F/O Bruce Lionel Poole (425050)
LAC James David Pugh (46571)
Warrant Officer John Kay (403695)

The aircraft took off at 0530 hours on an operational travel flight. Twenty minutes later it returned to Batchelor and requested landing instructions. These were given and shortly afterwards the aircraft struck the ground apparently during a landing approach and disintegrated and burned on impact.

Richard “George” Rudge was the regular pilot of Ventura A59-84 which crashed killing the whole crew. His friend Richard MacKay, passed on to me Richard "George" Rudd's account of the crash as follows:-

"I was scheduled to make this flight with my crew. Another pilot really wanted to take the plane as he had a personal reason for wanting to meet someone."

"George" was adamant that he would make the flight, but after some more pestering by the other pilot, "George" and the other pilot tossed a coin. The other pilot won the toss which cost him his life. It remained a horrible memory for "George" until he passed away. The other crew members were "George’s" regular crew. They had been through so much together. He felt responsible and he was one of the first at the crash site. Half a century later he returned to honour his mates at the memorial erected at the crash site.

R.I.P Richard "George" Rudge. ( a true gentleman).

Subject:    Aircraft crashes Northern Territory
Date:             Sun, 26 Nov 2000 16:27:26 +1100
From:           Brian Coleman <bcoleman@alphalink.com.au>

Greetings Peter,

It's me again. Thought you may be interested in the following.

>From my diary, 18 Squadron (NEI) Crashes during my time with the Squadron.

2-1-1945 B-25 N5-211 crashed on take off, Batchelor. Total write off.

I spent from 30-12-1944 to 7-1-1945 tracing noises in the radio equipment of this aircraft, finally finding a loose connection which cured the problem, then it crashed the next day. I don 't have any casualties listed.

27-1-1945 A Ventura (Number and type unknown) crashed at approx 5am at the end of Gould Strip. No survivors.

9-2-1945 N5-217 crash landed at RSU. Wheels failed to lower, flew around to use up fuel before belly landing at RSU. (Presumably at Gorrie, my diary record is not specific on this point).

After the crash of 211, I then had to help with salvaging equipment for use as spares. I have a memento of this in the form of a scar on my back, which I received climbing through the broken perspex of the waist gunners window.

Also if it is any help I have recorded the loss of N5-222 on 15-9-1955 due to AA fire during a raid. "Failed to return"

I also remember a fire which destroyed a B-25 in its revetment, at Batchelor. It shows how time plays with our memories. I seemed to remember that it was N5-167 which burnt, and that it was replaced by N5-218 (J model), however on reading my diary, I find that 218 arrived on the Squadron into my Flight (4 Flight) on 21-7-1944 only 8 days after I arrived on the Squadron, and that N5-170 caught fire on 18-8-1944. and according to my diary not much damage was done. Can't find any other reference to a fire, so this must have been the one, and yet I know that we were all evacuated from the area because there were primed 500 lb bombs under the bomb bay and that they exploded with the heat, sending large pieces of casing into the bush. We gathered in a revetment on the other side of the taxy way to watch, much to the concern of the Engineering Officer who wanted us to disappear from the site altogether. I do remember that it was a marvellous fireworks display.

Incidentally, N5-167 was still doing operations in December of 1944, and N5-218 was replaced with N5-242 (J model) on11-1-1945.

Regards

Brian Coleman

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Richard MacKay, Daniel Leahy and John Winterbotham for their assistance with this home page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 14 January 2000

This page last updated 24 July 2020