On 15 May 1942, P-40E Kittyhawk A29-64 of 77 Squadron RAAF, piloted by Flight Lieutenant David Newton Daly (260707), suffered an engine failure on an authorised flight at Geraldton Airfield in Western Australia and the engine caught fire. The engine fired irregularly during take-off and after rising to 50 feet, the pilot forced landed the aircraft with the undercarriage partly lowered damaging the aircraft significantly. The aircraft caught fire and the pilot received extensive burns to the face, legs, arms, hands and small lacerations to the forehead.

P-40E A29-64 was an early P-40E, 6th “E” Built…..CW#29 FY40-386, not CW#386: IARC and USAAF ledger confirmed as one of 19 off SS Robin Tuxworth landed Fremantle WA March 42