4TH DEPOT REPAIR SQUADRON
4TH AIR DEPOT GROUP
LOCATED AT DEPOT # 2 TOWNSVILLE
Also known as the Townsville Air Depot (TAD)
Delmar Lee Merryman, was a member of the 4th Depot Repair Squadron. Delmar remembers that they first arrived in Melbourne and then moved to Tocumwal. Delmar said that while he was at Tocumwal, General MacArthur told everyone in his group to get their rifles ready because the Japs might take Port Moresby and they would have to fight them.
Delmar Lee Merryman was part of an advanced echelon that did not stay in Australia for too long. They went up to bases in New Guinea, and then landed in the Philippines during the liberation. They were almost killed by the Japs when they landed on Nichols Field but the Philippine Guerrillas saved them.
"Lee" Merryman said that he did not install any .50 calibres on B-24's. When he was at the 4th Air Depot Group's base in Townsville, in the middle of 1942, it was probably still just B-17's there (43rd Bomb Group).
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
4th Depot Repair Squadron at Depot No. 2 in Townsville near Mount Louisa
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Delmar L. Merryman installed these
twin fuselage 50 calibres
on this and other B-25's and still has the scar on his hand to
prove it. He cut his finger on the metal shroud over the 50's
and he said he did not install any 50's on B-24's just B-25's.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Close-up of the twin 50 calibres
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Delmar Lee Merryman (on the
right) and his friend Frank Fastner
in front of one of the WW1 trophy guns in
Anzac Park, Townsville.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Rows of B-25's at Depot No 2, Townsville. That's Mount Louisa in the background
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Lt. Nunn, Test Pilot, for the 4th
Depot Repair Squadron standing
on the wing. That may be "Lee" Merryman with him. After the war
Lt. Nunn was a car salesman somewhere in Texas.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
"Lee" Merryman on the left.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Unknown
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Frank Fasner (or Fastner) on the
left
and Francis Bauser on the right
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Unknown
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
P-40's parked adjacent to the Stock
Route airfield. Castle Hill
can be seen in the right background of the photograph.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Photograph taken from the slopes
of Mount Louisa. The Camp facilities at
Depot
No 2 can be seen in the foreground. Beyond the camp can be seen a number
of the large maintenance hangars. Castle
Hill can be seen in the background.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
The caption on the rear of this
photograph describes it as Nichols Field?
Note what appears to be an explosion in the background.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Possibly General
MacArthur's personal B-17 "Bataan" at an
unknown location.
"Lee" Merryman had worked on "Bataan" while at Depot
No 2. The other possibility is that
it could be "Sally", the personal aircraft of General
George C. Kenny.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
"Lee Merryman standing beside
a P-47 Thunderbolt near Hangar 10 at
Depot
No 2 in Townsville. As a crew chief on fighters
(P-38's, etc) "Lee" used
to run up the engine and check the mags etc before the pilot took off in them.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
"Lee" Merryman (right)
and Frank Fasner next
to a newly delivered P-47 (with no guns)
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
Close-up of the above photograph
"Lee" Merryman told me that 4th Air Depot Group's Photographer was Gordon P. Atwell of Clarence, New York. I was contacted by Gordon's daughter Bonnie Engasser in late September 2012. Bonnie advised that Gordon P. Atwell had passed away in April 1996.
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
B-24 Liberator at No 2 Air Depot in Townsville
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
C-47 "Yanks Delight" at No 2 Air Depot in Townsville
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
B-24 Liberator "Eh-What's Up Doc?" at No 2 Air Depot in Townsville
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
B-24 Liberator "Big Ass Bird" at No 2 Air Depot in Townsville
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
B-17 Flying Fortress at No 2 Air Depot in Townsville
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
B-17 Flying Fortress "Yankee Diddler" at No 2 Air Depot in Townsville
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
?
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
B-24 Liberator "Wolf Pack"
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
C-47 "Drunkard's Dream?"
Photo Collection:- Delmar L. Merryman
C-47 "Tail Heavy"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'd like to thank Mike Merryman for his assistance with this web page. Mike's father, Delmar Lee Merryman (new deceased), who was 87 years old in 2005, was a member of the 4th Depot Repair Squadron from 1942 to 1945. He was mostly known as "Lee" Merryman. About 23 years ago, Mike Merryman obtained a copy of the group history on microfilm from the Air University in Alabama and had a friend type out items which pertained to his father and things and friends he knew.
Mike Merryman passed on to me a number of other photographic collections that he has acquired as follows:-
I'd like to thank Bonnie Engasser, daughter of Gordon P. Atwell, for her assistance with this web page.
Can anyone help me with more information?
"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products
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This page first produced 3 April 2006
This page last updated 24 January 2020
