6 June 1945 - Crash of a P-40 Kittyhawk at Cooktown, Queensland

6 JUNE 1945
CRASH OF A P-40 KITTYHAWK
AT COOKTOWN MISSION AIRFIELD, QLD

kittyhawk.jpg (10661 bytes)
Kittyhawk

On 6 June 1945, RAAF P-40M Kittyhawk, A29-374 (#43-5874), crash landed at Cooktown Mission airfield. This aircraft had been delivered to the RAAF in April 1943.

The aircraft was being ferried from 15 ARD to 2 OTU by Flight Lieutenant John Arthur Lee Archer (033098). On arrival at Cooktown from Port Moresby, a normal circuit and landing was carried out on the Cooktown Mission Airfield into the wind. Approximately 200 yards after touch down, the port oleo leg collapsed and the port mainplane struck the ground. The aircraft swung off the strip, the starboard leg collapsed and the aircraft came to rest on the fuselage and mainplane just off the side of the strip.

The cause of the undercarriage failure was not ascertained but the pilot stated that on tracing the tyre marks back along the landing run, the port wheel showed as having run through a pot hole in the strip. All indicators showed that the undercarriage was down and the pilot stated that the manual hydraulic pump was form before landing. The damage to the aircraft consisted of:-

Port mainplane 90%, Starboard mainplane 40%, Undercarriage 90%, Airscrew 30%, Belly Tank attachment and belly tank 90%, Radiator Cool Flaps unserviceable, Oil Cooler 90%.

REFERENCE BOOK

"Diary of WWII - North Queensland"
Complied by Peter Nielsen

"Aircraft of the RAAF 1921- 71"
By Geoffrey Pentland & Peter Malone

"The Spitfire, Mustang & Kittyhawk in Australian Service"
by Stewart Wilson

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Gordon Birkett for his assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products