Townsville @ War

Another old photo (161 Kbytes) of Flinders Street, Townsville. Green and Rawkins Chemist on the right and City Mutual building on the left

Another old photo (75 Kbytes) of Flinders Street, Townsville. Cannings on the right and City Mutual building on the left

Photo courtesy of Jack Heyn, of Gp. Photo Section, 3rd Bomb Gp. (L) (aka 3rd Attack Gp.)

One Sunday Afternoon in Townsville 1942

A crayon and water colour and pencil illustration by Roy Hodkinson of the Herald

WW2 Bunkers & Fortifications in the Townsville area Green St., Ramsay St., Bundock St., Sturt St., inside Castle Hill, Queens Park, Kissing Point, Mount Louisa, Magnetic Island, etc, etc	WW2 Bunkers in the Stuart and Roseneath areas of Townsviell
Military Command Centre inside Castle Hill near the Green Street Bunker	The Defence of Townsville during WW2 Top Secret - Townsville Defence Scheme This is a very interesting document
Magnetic Island Fortifications	The Defence of Townsville Harbour
The Townsville Harbour Board during WW2	General MacArthur rescued from the Philippines by Flying Fortresses based in Townsville
General Douglas MacArthur in Townsville The Facts and the Myths	Lyndon Baynes Johnson's time in Townsville The 36th President of the United States stayed at Buchanan's Hotel during WW2
Lyndon Baynes Johnson takes part in a bombing raid on Lae This bombing raid was flown out of Townsville via Port Moresby	Lyndon Baynes Johnson in a crash landing of a B-17 Flying Fortress at Carisbrooke Station
"Bluey" Truscott crash lands his Kittyhawk at Townsville	The Japanese bomb Townsville Did you know that the Japanese bombed Townsville on 3 occasions?
Japanese Air Raids in North Queensland 1942 - 1943	Townsville saved from a 300 aircraft Japanese Air Raid
"Z" Special Unit Commandos invade Townsville Operation "Scorpion"	Negro Servicemen riot at the Upper Ross, May 1942
The "Native Labour Company" 500 Chinese labourers camped in Townsville	"G" for George arrives in Townsville
Battle of the Coral Sea	Mustard Gas Experiments - Townsville area
At School in Townsville during WW2	Reference Books on Townsville during WW2
The P-38 Crash Landing	Artillery Pieces in the Townsville area during WW2
Anti-aircraft Batteries located in the Townsville area during WW2	Military Aircraft Crashes in the Townsville area during WW2 Did you know that there were at least 199 military aircraft crashes or mishaps in the Townsville area during WW2?
Military Units based in the Townsville area during WW2	WAAAF'S in North Queensland during WW2
Townsville WAAAF Recruit Course	USAAF Units stationed in the Townsville area at 8 May 1942
Military Establishments in the Townsville area during WW2 Camps, buildings, airfields, bunkers, etc	Military Camps/Units at Oonoonba (previously Fairfield) Townsville during WW2
Townsville War Cemetery 222 Australian buried in this cemetery at Belgian Gardens	US Military Cemetery in Townsville during WW2 Approximately 390 Americans were buried in this Cemetery at Belgian Gardens
Residences and Buildings commandeered by the Military in Townsville during WW2	Photographic Collection of Jack Heyn of Group Photo Section, 3rd Bomb Group (L) (aka 3rd Attack Group)
Jack Heyn in the South West Pacific area during WW2 Includes his time at Charters Towers and visits to Mackay and Ingham	Wartime Menu for Athol's Inn in Flinders Street the menu was obviously designed to please the Americans
Entertainment in Townsville during WW2 Hotels, Movie Theatres, Brothels, etc.	Magnetic Island boat "Paluma" was once used as a support vessel for the Coastwatchers
Townsville - The war is over!!

I was born in Townsville in 1948 and as a kid I grew up surrounded by remnants of the war. The saltpan behind my home at Haig Street, Pimlico, Townsville had a number of rusting belly tanks from fighter and bomber aircraft that were based in Townsville during the war. The lucky kids who were a bit older had managed to grab the better ones a few years earlier and made canoes out of them. The saltpan is now gone and replaced with some lakes, housing and Castletown shopping centre, etc. I can vaguely remember about 50 metres behind our house, there were the remains of what I presume were open slit trenches from the war.

I used to ride my trusty old pushbike out to the numerous World War 2 igloos that used to exist around Duckworth street and the general area at the base of Mount Louisa. I can remember my mother, like many other people in Townsville, learning how to drive on the large concrete aprons on Duckworth Street, that once used to hold hundreds of wartime aircraft. I can remember the Redex Trials mustered in the same area when I was a kid. These aircraft took part in many bombing raids in the New Guinea area and also took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea off the north Queensland coast.

At one time during the war, Townsville was America's largest overseas air base except for some facilities in Great Britain. It was common for B-26 Marauders, B-17 Flying Fortresses or B-25 Mitchell bombers to take off on long range bombing raids from Garbutt air base. The first bombing raid on Rabaul on 23 February 1942 was carried out by six B-17's based near Townsville. Three of the B-17's were badly damaged by gunfire and three crewmen were wounded. One B-17 belly landed 354 kms from Port Moresby when it ran out of fuel.

These long range bombing raids from Townsville would cover a 36 - 48 hour period with a total of 18 hours of flying time. Typically they would leave Townsville late in the afternoon, stay overnight at Port Moresby to refuel and take on-board a load of bombs, and then attack Rabaul. They would then return to Port Moresby for more fuel and return to Townsville.

I remember when I was about 12 -15 years old, one of our neighbours, the Neilsens, telling me about a P-38 Lightning having crash landed on the saltpan behind our house. I never knew whether it was true or not, but over 25 years later I read about this incident in the excellent book called "Wings Around Us" by Rodney G. Cardell. I'd love to find a photograph of the aircraft after it had crash landed. Can anyone help? Rodney's excellent book is centered around the Stock Route Air Strip which used to be located where Dalrymple Road goes beside the high voltage steel towers at Garbutt. There were many other war times airfields around Townsville, including Aitkenvale, Antill Plains, Bohle River, Fanning, Garbutt, Giru, Reid River, Ross River, Upper Ross, and Woodstock.

"Australia @ War" assisted SkyNews Australia with their TV Special -
"Anzac Legacy - An Unsolved Mystery" in September 2001.
Investigating reports of WWII tunnels and bunkers
criss-crossing Townsville, North Queensland.

Townsville City Council held an event called Living Heroes - VP60
from 12 - 15 August 2005 which marked the 60^th anniversary
of the end of World War 2 and commemorated our veterans

Photographic Collection of Townsville from 1940's and a few more recent photos Private collection held by NQRS	Views of Townsville from the early 1940's
Townsville in February 1999	Recent Panoramic Views of Townsville Rowes Bay, Magnetic Island, Many Peaks Range, Mount Stuart, Mount Louisa