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Canal Creek air crash

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Coordinates: 22°58′47″S 150°28′53″E / 22.97974°S 150.48141°E / -22.97974; 150.48141 (Canal Creek Air Crash monument)
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The Canal Creek air crash occurred on 19 December 1943 when a C-47 aircraft of the 22d Troop Carrier Squadron 374th Troop Carrier Group crashed at Canal Creek, Queensland, fifty kilometres north of Rockhampton, killing all 31 people on board.[1]

The aircraft was enroute from Townsville to Brisbane with a scheduled stop in Rockhampton.[2] It's believed the crash was caused by a fire in one of the engines which caused an explosion, destroying part of the aircraft causing it to disintegrate and crash.[1][3]

Those killed included twenty United States Armed Forces personnel, eight Australian Defence Force personnel, an Australian war photographer, a representative from the YMCA and an adjutant from the Salvation Army.[4]

Due to wartime censorship, there was very little press coverage of the accident, with the few newspaper articles that were published focusing on the non-combatants on-board such as Harold Dick (war photographer), Nigel James MacDonald (YMCA) and William Tibbs (Salvation Army).[5][6][7] However, those stories only mentioned that they had been "killed in a plane accident" with no specific details about the disaster.[5][6][7]

With so many locals still unaware of the disaster at the turn of the century, Yeppoon resident John Millroy began campaigning for a permanent memorial at the crash site to commemorate those who died.[1][8] After securing $14,000 in government funding, a monument was unveiled by World War II servicemen Neville Hewitt and Yeppoon RSL president Wayne Carter on 16 June 2012.[9][10] Rockhampton mayor Margaret Strelow and Queensland Governor Penelope Wensley attended the ceremony.[9] Wensley said it was good the tragedy was being remembered while Strelow praised Millroy for his part in organising the memorial.[9]

Annual memorial services are now held at the crash site.[11] A 75th anniversary commemoration was held in 2018.[12][13]

The Canal Creek air crash occurred just a month after the Rewan air crash near Rolleston, in which 19 Australian and American personnel were killed[14][15][16] and six months after the Bakers Creek air crash near Mackay in which 40 military personnel were killed.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c Roberts, Alice; Mackay, Jacquie (22 May 2012) A site to remember: Canal Creek air disaster, ABC Capricornia. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  2. ^ Crash of C-47 of 22nd Troop Carrier Squadron, 374th Transport Group 30 miles north of Rockhampton, Oz at War website. Accessed 27 August 2019.
  3. ^ (24 July 2015) Canal Creek Memorial Service, Department of Defence, Australian Government. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  4. ^ Canal Creek Air Crash, Monuments Australia website. Accessed 27 August 2019.
  5. ^ a b (21 December 1943) Cameraman dies in crash, The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  6. ^ a b (30 December 1943) YMCA man killed in air crash, The Argus. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  7. ^ a b (31 December 1943) Tributes to Adjutant W B Tibbs, Salvationists honour gallant comrade, The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  8. ^ (5 January 2012) RSL plans memorial at Canal Creek, The Morning Bulletin. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  9. ^ a b c Robinson, Paul (18 June 2012) Memorial recognises WWII plane crash victims, ABC News. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  10. ^ (18 June 2012) Wayne Carter and Neville Hewitt unveil the stone at the Canal Creek plane crash memorial, ABC News. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  11. ^ (15 July 2015) Canal Ck memorial service to honour lives lost in crash, The Morning Bulletin. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  12. ^ (18 December 2018) CQ community commemorates 75th anniversary of air diaster, The Morning Bulletin. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  13. ^ (20 December 2018) 75th Canal Creek air disaster memorial, The Morning Bulletin. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  14. ^ (23 April 2004) Memorial to honour war crash victims, ABC News. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  15. ^ Dakota C-47 Air Crash Memorial, Monuments Australia website. Accessed 27 August 2019.
  16. ^ Crash of a C-47A Dakota on Rewan Station, south of Springsure, Oz at War website. Accessed 27 August 2019.
  17. ^ Meixner, Sophie (14 June 2018) Remembering Australia's worst air disaster and the cover-up that echoed for decades, ABC News. Retrieved 27 August 2019.

Further reading

  • O'Brien, Mary; Capricorn Coast Historical Society (issuing body.) (2013), The 1943 Canal Creek air crash : and other aircraft disasters in Central Queensland during WW2, Yeppoon, Qld. Capricorn Coast Historical Society, retrieved 18 October 2019

22°58′47″S 150°28′53″E / 22.97974°S 150.48141°E / -22.97974; 150.48141 (Canal Creek Air Crash monument)

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