2 August 1942 - Crash of a Wirraway at the Bomb Range at Pine Creek, NT

CRASH OF A WIRRAWAY
BOMB RANGE, PINE CREEK, NT
ON 2 AUGUST 1942

visits since 23 December 2001

Wirraway

At 1545 hours on 2 August 1942, Wirraway A20-544 of 12 Squadron RAAF, crashed after it lost a port wing during a practice dive bombing attack at the bombing range at Pine Creek in the Northern Territory. The aircraft was completely wrecked and burnt. The crew were both killed as follows:-

Pilot Officer R.F. Ellyard
Sergeant A.M. Nicholls

NOTE:- Lex Dwyer, a former member of 12 Squadron RAAF, believes this crash occurred at the bombing range east of Pell Airfield, north of the town of Adelaide River.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Lex Dwyer for his assistance with this web page. Lex rang me on 15 July 2005 for an interesting discussion about his time in the RAAF during WW2.

REFERENCE BOOKS

Manuscript History of 12 Squadron RAAF

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?