FORCED LANDING OF A KITTYHAWK
ON MELVILLE ISLAND
NORTH OF DARWIN, NT
ON 7 SEPTEMBER 1942

P-40 Kittyhawk, A29-60 of 77 Squadron RAAF forced landed on Melville Island north of Darwin on 7 September 1942 after running out of fuel during a tactical interception exercise. The pilot was Pilot Officer John Grey Gorton (400793), the future Prime Minister of Australia.

77 Squadron RAAF was sent to just south of Darwin in August 1942. On an intercept in September 1942 P/O Gorton chased Japanese aircraft out over the Arafura Sea and it appears he went a bit too far. On the return he was very low on fuel and force landed on Melville Island. One blade of the airscrew was slightly damaged and P/O John Gorton was uninjured.

A lugger left Darwin on 8 September 1942 with Flying Officer G. Shave onboard to try to locate P/O John Gorton on Melville Island. Flying Officer Gleeson took off in P-40E Kittyhawk A29-104 on 9 September 1942, to attempt to find the lugger. Later that day, a Wirraway of 12 Squadron RAAF dropped food and water supplies to P/O John Gorton on Melville Island.

On 10 September 1942, F/O Gleeson in A29-52 dropped a map and directed the lugger to Gorton's grounded aircraft on Melville Island.

It was some time before P/O John Gorton was rescued, His P-40E Kittyhawk A29-60 was eventually repaired on the beach and on 11 September 1942, Flight Lieutenant G. Shave flew the aircraft back to Batchelor Airfield. The aircraft was then sent to 2 OTU.

This type of incident of running out of fuel after chasing Japanese aircraft out to sea was not restricted to 77 Squadron RAAF as the Spitfires of 452, 457 and 54 (RAF) Squadrons also succumbed to this problem.

On 23 September 1943, this same aircraft, while attached to 2 OTU RAAF was involved in another crash at Gol Gol Range in New South Wales and exploded killing the pilot, P/O Neville Douglas Murphy.

John Gorton was involved in the Malaysian campaign in late 1941 and in early 1942 he was shot down in a Hurricane. This crash causing some of his facial injuries.

P-40E Kittyhawk A29-60 was delivered to the RAAF in March 1942. 

On 21 January 1942, Pilot Officer John Grey Gorton (400793) suffered severe facial injuries when his Hurricane of 135 Squadron RAF overturned during a crash landing on Bintan Island south of Singapore after his engine failed during aerial combat with Japanese aircraft over the South China Sea. He was thrown heavily into the instrument panel during the crash. He was being evacuated to Fremantle, in Western Australia when the ship he was on was sunk on 13 February 1942. Japanese submarine I-55 sunk the UK merchant ship "MV Derrymore" at 05° 18' S, 166° 20' E about 50 miles north of Batavia, when it was on a passage between Singapore and Batavia. It was carrying six crated Hurricane aircraft, ammunition, military equipment and 218 RAAF personnel, plus its crew of 26 seamen. They were rescued by the RAN Corvette HMAS Ballarat.

Flying Officer John Grey Gorton (400793) of 77 Squadron RAAF was involved in a later incident when the engine in his P-40 Kittyhawk A29-192 failed on take-off during a test flight at Gurney Airfield at Milne Bay in New Guinea. The P-40 was about four fifths of the way down the runway, at an airspeed of 110 mph and about 2 feet of the runway. Gorton had no time for any evasive action except to switch off the aircraft. The P-40 continued on and struck a bog off the end of the runway and turned over on its back. Flying Officer Gorton was not injured.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Gordon Clarke and Neale Gentner for their assistance with this home page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

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This page first produced 5 January 2005

This page last updated 22 March 2025