CRASH OF A P-40 KITTYHAWK
50 METRES FROM TODAY'S KEDRON WAVELL SERVICES CLUB
AT CHERMSIDE, BRISBANE
ON AN UNKNOWN DATE IN ABOUT 1944

visits since 30 May 2001

A USAAF P-40 Kittyhawk crashed at Chermside Chermside in Brisbane in about February or possibly March 1944 about 50 metres from where the Kedron-Wavell RSL club is located.

The street leading into the Kedron Wavell Services Club is called Kittyhawk Drive. There is apparently a small memorial to the pilot inside the club. (has anyone seen it?). A friend of Chris Jamesson located pieces of the aircraft a couple years ago. The pieces included some perspex, a filler cap , IFF box etc. They were located just below ground level.

A book called "The History of Chermside" by D.R. Teague describes this crash as follows:-

In 1943, a Kittyhawk plane on a training flight crashed into the camp near Hamilton Road. Evidently the pilot was in difficulty and tried to land on the road but with the appearance of traffic he tried to make a nearby paddock. The plane narrowly missed the sergeant's mess and took the end off the officer's latrines. Both instructor and pilot were killed. U.S. military police were quickly on the scene and sealed off the area but not quickly enough to prevent a local lad's souveniring a generator from the wreckage.

If it was a Kittyhawk there would have only been one person killed as a Kittyhawk is a single seater aircraft.

On 9 May 2003 I spoke with Lionel Sharp who knew someone who had witnessed the crash. That person indicated that the crash was closer to nearby Corrie Street than the RSL Club. He indicated that the pilot was badly burnt and had been killed in the crash.

On 1 September 2003, I spoke with Val and Clifford Ross about this crash. Val Ross (nee Fullwood) lived in Victor Drive at Chermside which is now called Kidston Street. Val described herself as living around the corner from the Dawn Theatre. Val said there were about to sit down for their Saturday evening meal when they heard the spluttering engine of an aircraft. Val's brother Frank told his step-mother that the aircraft was about to crash, but he was told to sit down. They then heard the loud bang and Frank rushed out to see large clouds of billowing black smoke. He rode his push bike down to Hamilton Road. An Australian Army truck had charged trough a property fence to get to the crash site which was located about 100 yards east of today's Kedron Wavell Services Club and about 100 yards in from Hamilton Road. 

Frank rode his bike through the broken fence after the Army truck and saw the slumped body of the American pilot in the wrecked aircraft which was burning fiercely. The pilot had apparently veered his aircraft to avoid a group of children and impacted the ground and slid along until it slammed into the Officer's toilet at the Australian Army Camp. Fortunately there was no one in the building at the time.

Val's future husband, Clifford Ross, of the 113th General Transport Company, based at Marchant Park at Chermside, was one of the Australian soldiers who arrived on site straight after the crash, and was ordered to guard the site until the Americans arrived. Val and Clifford advised that the aircraft was a Lancer. Frank Fullwood, in his memories about the crash, described how two aircraft were have a simulated dog-fight before one of them had engine problems.

An Australian Army Truck, arrived on site and recovered the body from the burnt out wreckage.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Chris Jamesson, Lionel Sharp and Val and Clifford Ross for their assistance with this home page.

REFERENCE BOOKS

"The History of Chermside"
by D.R. Teague

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

What was the exact date of the crash?

Who was the pilot and what unit was he from?

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

This page first produced 30 May 2001

This page last updated 01 September 2003