26 February 1942 - Crash of a C-47 (or was it a aC-53?) on a beach near Cape Londonderry, Vansittart Bay, 400 miles north of Broome

CRASH OF A C-53)
ON A BEACH NEAR CAPE LONDONDERRY,
VANSITTART BAY
400 MILES NORTH OF BROOME
ON 26 FEBRUARY 1942

visits since 12 September 2000

Wreckage of a USAAF C-53 Douglas DC-3 #41-2006, was located on a beach near Cape Londonderry, Vansittart Bay, about 400 miles north of Broome at Map Reference 13.44 - 126.56. It went missing on 26 February 1942. It was on a Ferry flight from Perth to Darwin. They were meant to land at Broome but flew past Broome in the dark and ran out of fuel. They made a wheels up forced landing on the coastline. The reasonably intact wreck is still there today.

David Donald Ian Campbell and his mate who were in the Australian Army reserve were passengers on this aircraft. They both worked as telegraphists in the PMG in Western Australia at the time. David Campbell later joined the RAAF. They were on their way to Darwin to work as with an Army Signals unit. I believe there was a crew of 3 (possibly 4) on board the C-53.

They were marooned on the beach for a couple of days. They used some pipes off the the aircraft to distill drinking water from salt water.

A day or so after the forced landing, two Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew over the crash site and spotted the aircraft wreck and kept flying. Two days later Broome was bombed.

Photo:- Donald Bainbridge