IN ABOUT 1942
CRASH OF AN A-20 HAVOC
INTO OPERATIONS HUT
AT CHARTERS TOWERS

visits since 30 January 2003

The 89th Squadron was the first to be equipped with the A-20's which had been shipped from the United States in crates. They were then assembled in Brisbane and test flown before being flown to Charters Towers. An A-20 Havoc bomber, of the 89th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group, crashed into Moreton Bay, near Brisbane on 5 July 1942. Dick Birnn was on a test flight in the A-20 Havoc, when it cartwheeled into the waters of Moreton Bay.

A total of 10 A-20's were lost in in the first few months of operation of the 89th Squadron.  One of the reasons for the incidents were mismanagement of fuel requirements.  In another incident, a crew chief ran an A-20A into the Group Operations hut in Charters Towers during an engine run-up.

REFERENCE BOOKS:-

The Forgotten Fifth
A Classic Photographic Chronology of the
Fifth Air Force in Action in the Pacific in WW2
By Michael Claringbould

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

This page first produced 13 June 1999

This page last updated 13 June 1999