Missing RAAF payroll Dakota found?

Antipodean Andy · Apr 16, 2008

Search is on for WWII wreckage - World - smh.com.au

AN AUSTRALIAN payroll plane that went missing at the end of World War II with 19 people on board might have been found in just 20 metres of water in Papua New Guinea.

Divers in Milne Bay have reported seeing the remains of a twin-engined plane in the exact same spot pinpointed by documents that were recently uncovered by an aviation historian in Canberra.

Now a diving boat skipper, who has found other plane wrecks in PNG waters, is planning an expedition to find the missing plane.

Historian Bob Piper said the RAAF Douglas C-47 took off from Gurney airstrip at Milne Bay just before 10am on September 11, 1945, with pilot Flight Lieutenant Eric Beer at the controls. It was bound for an airfield near Lae on the north coast.

On board were three crew and 16 passengers including Lieutenant Noel Williams, a former Commonwealth Bank employee carrying a payroll of more than £2000, the equivalent of $500,000 in today's money.

"The pay was all in paper money and would have been completely destroyed by the water by now," Mr Piper said. "It will be worth nothing. The money was to pay native labour in PNG who had finished working for the Allies."

Just minutes after taking off, the plane was engulfed by a tropical downpour and the pilot radioed that he was "returning and asked to be homed". That was the last anyone ever heard of the aircraft.

Aerial and ground searches found nothing. But the next day a village constable in a canoe found life jackets, cushions and oil floating on the surface of the water at Milne Bay.

Sixty-two years later, divers at Milne Bay reported seeing the shape of an aircraft at the same spot. Their reports coincided with the discovery of old paperwork by Mr Piper.

The information has been enough for diving boat skipper Rod Pearce to organise a search. He is already credited with finding an American B-17 bomber called Blackjack, which is one of PNG's most popular dive sites. "We won't start looking till about March, April May due to conditions, as we need perfect conditions," Pearce said.
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If the wreck proves to be the aircraft, the RAAF recovery teams will make a good dent in those listed as still MIA and provide some closure.

spidge · Apr 16, 2008

Andy in West Oz said: ↑

Search is on for WWII wreckage - World - smh.com.au

If the wreck proves to be the aircraft, the RAAF recovery teams will make a good dent in those listed as still MIA and provide some closure.
Click to expand...

This list is the RAAF deaths, the paymaster and one sapper recorded on that day. Total 18.

In Memory of
Lieutenant NOEL THOMAS WILLIAMS

QX46941, A.I.F., Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit
who died age 24
on 11 September 1945
Son of John Edgar and Alice Violet Williams, of Atherton, North Queensland.
Remembered with honour
PORT MORESBY MEMORIAL

BEER, ERIC CLARENCE Flight Lieutenant 253615 33sq 11/09/1945 31 Panel 9.
DAVIS, JAMES NEVILLE Flight Sergeant 433345 6sq 11/09/1945 20 Panel 9.
DEVENISH, KEITH HUGH Sergeant 17286 Airforce HQ Port Moresby 11/09/1945 35 Panel 9.
DORAN, WESLEY GREG Sergeant 50353 337 Radar Station Admiralty Islands 11/09/1945 22 Panel 9.
EASTALL, EASTALL LOCHLAN Corporal 88705 7 TMO Madang 11/09/1945 36 Panel 9.
GORDON, WILLIAM JOHN Flight Lieutenant 419569 6sq 11/09/1945 21 Panel 9.
HASLAM, ALBERT JOHN Aircraftman 1st Class 159583 RAAF Northern Command Port Moresby 11/09/1945 18 Panel 10.
HEALY, PERCY BADON Leading Aircraftman 162787 303 RS Milne Bay 11/09/1945 29 Panel 10.
MACKAY, NEIL STUART Corporal 139076 RAAF Northern Command Port Moresby 11/09/1945 25 Panel 9.
MORAN, MICHAEL FRANCIS Corporal 118118 347 RS Admiralty Islands 11/09/1945 21 Panel 9.
MULCAHY, JOHN FRANCIS Flight Lieutenant 403946 33sq 11/09/1945 28 Panel 9.
REEDMAN, WILLIAM PATRICK Flying Officer 435578 6sq 11/09/1945 20 Panel 9.
RUTHERFORD, KEVIN FRANCIS Flight Sergeant 433825 6sq 11/09/1945 20 Panel 9.
STEVENS, WILLIAM DOUGLAS GOLDIE Leading Aircraftman 418569 43 OBU 11/09/1945 26 Panel 10.
SULLIVAN, FRANCIS XAVIER Flight Sergeant 449405 33sq 11/09/1945 19 Panel 9.
WALTON, ALBERT GRANT Leading Aircraftman 151902 RAAF Northern Command Port Moresby 11/09/1945 19 Panel 10.
SMITH, KEITH, K Sapper VX65318Royal Australian Engineers11/09/1945 22 Panel 1.

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