12 JUNE 1942
CRASH OF A BEAUFORT
IN THE MAREEBA AREA

visits since 7 February 1999

Bristol Beaufort

An RAAF Beaufort, A9-56 (T9608) of 100 Squadron, flew the first operational sortie out of the new Mareeba air strip on 12 June 1942.  The Beaufort failed to return from an anti-submarine patrol.

It was subsequently Struck Off Charge (SOC). This actually happened before the A9 number was allocated to this aircraft.

SOC = Struck Off Charge = the date that the airframe was disposed of (scrapped/burnt/buried etc.) or deleted from inventory (usually a month after missing or immediately if loss was seen).

NOTE:- Most of the above information was passed on to me by Ross McNeill (RossMcN@aol.com) of Worcestershire, UK, who is a  researcher specialising in sea losses of Allied aircraft 1939-45.  His Beaufort data comes from the RAF 800 movement cards held at the RAF Museum, Hendon. Ross spent a few months transcribing the info in about 1997.

REFERENCE BOOK

"Aircraft and Markings of the RAAF 1939 - 1945"
By Geoffrey Pentland

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

This page first produced 7 February 1999

This page last updated 06 April 2002