9 May 1942 - Crash of a P-39 Airacobra at Murdoch Point, QLD

CRASH OF A P-39 AIRACOBRA
AT MURDOCH POINT, QLD
ON 9 MAY 1942

On 9 May 1942, a P-39 Airacobra of the 35th Fighter Squadron, of the 8th Fighter Group crashed on a beach at Murdoch Point, north Queensland during a non-operational flight. The pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Richard L. Nowlin (0-426787), was killed.

2nd Lt. Nowlin had survived an earlier tragic flight on 26 April 1942, when 11 out of 15 Airacobras force landed during a flight from Woodstock airfield to Port Moresby.

2nd Lt. Richard Nowlin (35th Pursuit Squadron) and a Robert Love (36th Pursuit Squadron) were buried at the US Cemetery in Townsville on 7 November 1942. Love had months earlier been buried on a beach on 1 May 1942 by Lt. Yundt. after his Airacobra had crashed.

2nd Lt Nowlin's remains were later exhumed from his grave in the US Cemetery in Townsville in about July 1945 and were reburied at the US Military Cemetery Ipswich on 24 July 1945. He was later exhumed with all of the other American personnel buried at Ipswich and returned by ship to the USA where he was reburied at the Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, HI, USA, Plot A, Grave 547.

Photo:- via Edward Rogers