B-26 MARAUDER HIT TELEPHONE POLE
WHILE TAXYING NEAR STOCK ROUTE AIRFIELD
IN TOWNSVILLE, NORTH QUEENSLAND
ON 5 APRIL 1942

On 6 April 1942, about 9 days after the first B-26 Marauders of the 22nd Bomb Group arrived in Townsville, they successfully bombed Rabaul. This was the first B-26 Marauder combat mission during WWII. The B-26s were armed with bombs at Garbutt Airfield on 5 April 1942, and the aircraft were flown the four hour flight to Port Moresby so that they arrived late in the day just before dark to minimise the chance of being attacked on the ground by Japanese aircraft from Lae or Rabaul. After refuelling, the air crew would then sleep under or near their aircraft ready to take off at dawn the next morning for the 600 mile bombing raid to Rabaul. There were no fighter escorts during the six hour round trip to Rabaul.

Most of the aircraft in that first bombing raid to Rabaul were from the 19th Bomb Squadron. Whilst taxying from the Stock Route Airfield along Duckworth Street to Garbutt Airfield on 5 April 1942, the right wingtip of Lt. Walter Krell's B-26 Marauder clipped an upright piece of railway line which had been used as a telephone pole. It took his crew three days to repair the damage to his aircraft.

REFERENCES

"Wings Around Us" by Rodney Cardell

"Revenge of the Red Raiders" by Walter Gaylor, Don L. Evans, Harry A. Nelson & Lawrence J. Hickey

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 22 December 2023

This page last updated 22 December 2023