CRASH OF A WARHAWK
ON NORFOLK ISLAND
ON 16 DECEMBER 1943

On 16 December 1943 Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P-40 Warhawk, # 3198, of No. 15 Squadron, "landed u/c up".  The Warhawk was being ferried to Esperitu Santo. 

The pilot, Sgt G.R. Speer, raised his undercarriage lever instead of flap lever, and probably failed to test his undercarriage with hydraulic hand pump prior to landing. Sgt Speer had been in similar previous incident, and was remustered to ground trade.

REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

 NOTE:- Air files AIR vol 1 No 25/2/... in NZ National Archives, Wellington cover RNZAF accidents & crashes including WWII. They range from landing mishaps to writeoffs & missing planes. The details of this crash were in File 25/2/1208.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank John Wilson for his assistance with this home page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 26 December 2001

This page last updated 25 January 2020