15 JANUARY 1944
CRASH OF A BEAUFORT
INTO SEA OFF CAIRNS

visits since 25 April 1999

Bristol Beaufort

On 15 January 1944, RAAF Beaufort A9-458, crashed into the sea just out from the Grafton Passage near Cairns, Queensland.  The Beaufort was on Convoy escort duty at the time of the crash and the two crew members were rescued by the ship HMAS Bowen.

NOTE:- 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.

I also received information on the above crash from a list of aircraft crashes compiled by Bruce Stewart from a series of books called "Aircraft in Australian Service" by Stewart Wilson.

SOURCE:-   Aircraft Crash Sites - Australia

Crash:         No. 155

Position:     16.23 - 146.21

Department of Aviation Chart No:       3219

REFERENCE BOOK

"Diary of WWII - North Queensland"
Complied by Peter Nielsen

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

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

This page first produced 25 April 1999

This page last updated 06 April 2002