LIBERATOR CRASH REMEMBERED

Little wonder his mental scars and those of other survivors ran so deep. A Lieutenant at the time of the crash, one of his unenviable, self-appointed tasks was to lay out and identify the body parts of 14 soldiers of D Company, killed outright after the Liberator, carrying a full load of aviation fuel and four 500lb bombs, hit a tree, crashed into five trucks in the convoy and exploded in a massive fireball. After the crash, he was promoted to Captain and took over as Officer Commanding D Company, replacing VX11997 Captain John Boyd Ferguson who died in the inferno.

Details of the tragedy are now well documented but why the crash occurred is still a mystery, despite information in recent years offering new explanations as to the cause.

The explanations have come from relatives of the US airmen who died in the crash, including Peter Dehman, a nephew of 31201941 Hyman Silverstein, the radio operator on board the “Pride of the Cornhuskers”.

Other new information has come from US military and aviation sources, among them the forum of the 43rd Bomb Group, to which the Liberator’s 403 Squadron was attached. Most intriguing is a theory that the plane and its crew were victims of a physical phenomenon unheard of in 1943.

At the time, pilot error and engine failure were considered the main possible causes, but official findings by Australia and the USA soon after the crash differed significantly in this regard. The Australian Army Court of Inquiry found no evidence of engine failure and placed no blame on the pilot T-00252 H.J. Wood, concluding: “The pilot had considerable experience and there is no evidence of neglect on his part.” It further concluded the cause would most likely always remain a mystery.

The US investigative committee found differently. It reported: “Pilot Wood undertook the fateful take-off under instrument conditions and failed to climb to a sufficient altitude before lowering the nose of the aircraft to increase the airspeed. Going directly from contact to instrument flying in a B-24 aircraft, immediately after take-off is trying on the best of pilots, for flight instruments can very easily give erratic readings at the moment the aircraft becomes airborne. With all causal factors having been considered the committee affixes the error a follows: Pilot 90%, and weather 10%.” Modern aviation technology has since offered a new, plausible, crash theory, first raised in 2014 by historian, author and B-24 expert, Bob Livingstone, who believes the Liberator may have crashed because the pilot became disorientated due to “head-up illusion”, a physical phenomenon identified only in recent years. It can happen when sudden forward acceleration during level flight gives the illusion that the nose of the aircraft is pitching up, causing the pilot to push the yoke, or stick, forward to lower the nose of the aircraft, with potentially disastrous consequences at low altitude. Common examples where this can occur, and cause crashes, are night take-offs from well-lit airports into a totally dark sky (black hole), the conditions under which “Pride of the Cornhuskers” took off on that fateful September 7 morning. A catapult take-off from an aircraft carrier at sea can create the same “head-up illusion”. Livingstone explained: “Head-up illusion is a physiological response which affects pilots, not known of in 1943. It was particularly common on Pacific Islands and aircraft carriers where the runway ended at the ocean, but in a place as underpopulated as Papua New Guinea, the effect was, and probably still is, just the same.”

Despite engine failure or pilot error being considered the most likely causes of the crash, wild rumours circulated that the Liberator had been sabotaged. One rumour was that the plane crashed on take-off because it hadn’t been fully fuelled, a rumour completely refuted by the huge amount of burning aviation fuel that engulfed the crash scene. Another wild rumour was that Military Police had rounded up and shot saboteurs.

It was later claimed that high-ranking Allied Officers started the rumours in the interests of maintaining morale, perhaps thinking that blaming unavoidable sabotage was preferable to revealing the truth: that a friendly U.S.A.A.F. bomber crashing into the truck convoy of an Australian Infantry Battalion, killing or mortally wounding 60 soldiers, and injuring 90 others, had caused the disaster. Fearing that news of this magnitude would have such an irreversible effect on the morale of all Allied troops fighting in Papua New Guinea, and especially on the eve of the battle to recapture Lae from the Japanese, in which the 2/33rd Battalion soldiers were about to take part, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander in the South West Pacific Area, and Australia’s General Thomas Blamey, Commander of the Allied Land Forces, ordered complete secrecy and threatened soldiers with harsh disciplinary action if they attempted to write home about it. Families back in Australia were told their relative had “died in a plane crash in New Guinea” or been “accidentally killed”, but were not given any details.

Although the 2/33rd Battalion Association remembered and marked the anniversary of the Liberator crash every year on September 7, from its formation in 1945 onwards, there was no official national commemorative recognition of the disaster until the 70th Anniversary with a service at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, on September 6, 2013. Originally, it was hoped to conduct the 70th Anniversary service at the crash site which, after a number of years of research and searching had finally been discovered under dramatic circumstances in late 2012. Military historian and a Kokoda trek leader, Gary Traynor, now also a Life Member of the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion Association, had earlier used his knowledge of the Port Moresby area to help roughly plot the location, but its exact position remained undiscovered until Traynor, prior to leading a party to trek the Kokoda Trail in 2012, spent a morning with his trekking party searching in bushland near the end of the Port Moresby runway for any signs of the 1943 tragedy.

After searching for some hours they had almost given up when one of the group, Geoff Watkins, the son of VX1879 Russell Watkins, mentioned he’d spotted the rusty remains of what he thought might be part of a truck. Previously dismissed by locals as just rubbish, it was, in fact, the cowl section of the truck cabin in which VX11997 Captain John Boyd Ferguson, Officer Commanding D-Company, had been sitting when killed.

Further proof of it being the crash site was the scattered and exploded ammunition from Australian .303 rifles, Bren guns, Thompson sub-machine guns, side arms, mills M36 bombs (grenades) and .50 calibre ammunition from the “Pride of the Cornhuskers”. The find that morning culminated years of research and wondering, including valuable research contributions by US resident, Ken Keisling, a nephew of Liberator crew member 33345669 John Hrywnak who died in the crash.

The immediate thought following discovery of the site was that the 70th Anniversary, in September, 2013, should be held there. After viewing research material and photographs of relics the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion A.I.F. Association committee, including NX43720 Ray Gibson, NX153060 Albert “Bert” Jourdain and NX88133 Ian “Snowy” King, wholeheartedly granted permission, saying: “This is something that has been long overdue and we owe it to the men, our brothers.” However, their approval was conditional. “We only grant permission if you feel you have enough time to adequately and successfully plan a commemoration that will truly honour the men as we would rather not do it at all than to do it poorly,” the committee said.

A personal letter from Bert Jourdain gave an insight into how the crash had affected the entire battalion, even those who weren’t directly involved. Jourdain didn’t witness the crash, but knew many of the D Company men killed. He arrived in Port Morse by four days after the disaster and was later assigned to D Company as a replacement. He wrote 69 years after the crash: “Although I wasn’t there at the time of the crash, just thinking about it is making me very emotional.”

Traynor, now also a Life Member of the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion Association, had earlier used his knowledge of the Port Moresby area to help roughly plot the location, but its exact position remained undiscovered until Traynor, prior to leading a party to trek the Kokoda Trail in 2012, spent a morning with his trekking party searching in bushland near the end of the Port Moresby runway for any signs of the 1943 tragedy.

After searching for some hours they had almost given up when one of the group, Geoff Watkins, the son of VX1879 Russell Watkins, mentioned he’d spotted the rusty remains of what he thought might be part of a truck. Previously dismissed by locals as just rubbish, it was, in fact, the cowl section of the truck cabin in which VX11997 Captain John Boyd Ferguson, Officer Commanding D-Company, had been sitting when killed.

Further proof of it being the crash site was the scattered and exploded ammunition from Australian .303 rifles, Bren guns, Thompson sub-machine guns, side arms, mills M36 bombs (grenades) and .50 calibre ammunition from the “Pride of the Cornhuskers”. The find that morning culminated years of research and wondering, including valuable research contributions by US resident, Ken Keisling, a nephew of Liberator crew member 33345669 John Hrywnak who died in the crash.

The immediate thought following discovery of the site was that the 70th Anniversary, in September, 2013, should be held there. After viewing research material and photographs of relics the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion A.I.F. Association committee, including NX43720 Ray Gibson, NX153060 Albert “Bert” Jourdain and NX88133 Ian “Snowy” King, wholeheartedly granted permission, saying: “This is something that has been long overdue and we owe it to the men, our brothers.” However, their approval was conditional.

“We only grant permission if you feel you have enough time to adequately and successfully plan a commemoration that will truly honour the men as we would rather not do it at all than to do it poorly,” the committee said.

A personal letter from Bert Jourdain gave an insight into how the crash had affected the entire battalion, even those who weren’t directly involved. Jourdain didn’t witness the crash, but knew many of the D Company men killed. He arrived in Port Morseby four days after the disaster and was later assigned to D Company as a replacement. He wrote 69 years after the crash: “Although I wasn’t there at the time of the crash, just thinking about it is making me very emotional.”

Because of the committee’s concerns about the short preparation time, the dedication service at the crash site was postponed until 2014, and a decision made to hold the 70th Anniversary at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, instead of Port Moresby.

Gary Traynor, then Assistant Curator at the Australian War Memorial, played an important role in encouraging the Memorial administrators to take an active part in the service, thereby giving the Liberator crash its first official national public recognition.

The Memorial Director, Dr Brendan Nelson, delivered the welcoming address at the service on September 6, and Ian “Snowy” King the commemorative address. Bert Jourdain read The Ode. In the closing address crash survivor Ray Gibson, gave a dramatic and moving account of the tragic events that day. “So many brave acts happened that morning. You did everything you could to help, without running into the inferno”, he said.

The names of the 73 who died were read at the service. A poppy for each man was placed in a 2/33rd Battalion wreath during a garden wreath-laying ceremony. Descendants laid poppies for each of the Australian men and current- serving Major Keith “Quake” Cowell, United States Air Force, laid poppies for each of the 11 flight crew.

Five other 2/33rd veterans, WX96 Murray Sweetapple, a former association president, NX96806 Doug Hancock, NX200319 Doug Pleace and crash survivors NX146322 Leslie Thomson and NX81054 Ron Bean, attended the service. Viewing various plaques at the Australian War Memorial inspired the association to commission a plaque to honour the Liberator crash victims. Paid for through donations, mainly from relatives, the plaque displays the names of the 62 Australian and 11 U.S.A.A.F victims.

A request was made for it to be displayed permanently at the Australian War Memorial. To the association’s great disappointment, Dr Nelson advised that the 2/33rd Battalion already had a plaque on display, and couldn’t have another one because of space limitations.

The decision was then made to have the plaque finished by September 2014 for dedication and unveiling at a dawn service at the crash site, timed to start at 4:25am, when the crash occurred.

A group of descendants flew to Port Moresby for the dawn service, which marked the 71st anniversary of the crash. The only 2/33rd Battalion veteran to attend, crash survivor NX81054 Ronald Bean, unveiled the plaque. It was an emotional moment because it was the first time the plaque had been seen in public. Colonel Dick Parker from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade paid tribute to the Australian soldiers killed and injured. Melanie Higgins, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy, Port Moresby, paid tribute to the 11 American airmen killed. The names of all 73 were read during the ceremony.

Yvonne Unitt, Life Member of the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion A.I.F. Association paid tribute on behalf of the battalion and the association. After the ceremony the party visited Bomana War Cemetery and laid poppies on the headstones of each of the 62 Australians killed. In the months leading up to the dawn service further contact from relatives of the US airmen killed in the crash indicated they had little knowledge about the crash and wanted to know more. Among them was Ray Hart who knew his brother, the Liberator’s navigator, O-674188 Lieutenant Ralph Hart, had been killed in a plane crash in New Guinea, but didn’t know how or where. We were able to give him closure after his years of trying to find out through US authorities. Similarly, the family of John Hrywnak knew little about the crash and had been told that the B-24 had been shot down mid-flight by enemy fire.

On the fateful morning of the crash, September 7, 1943, Private Ron Bean, who dedicated the Liberator plaque at the dawn service in 2014, was with other members of B Company in the convoy of trucks in the Ward’s Marshalling area and waiting to be airlifted for the start of the attack to recapture Lae from the Japanese. He heard the roar of the Liberator bomber, then watched horrified as the plane sheered through trees and crashed into the D Company trucks in a massive fireball and wall of flame that turned the pre-dawn darkness into instant daylight.

He ran towards one of the burning trucks, saying to himself: “What are they doing in there. Why aren’t they getting out?”. He recalled that the closer he got to the truck the more the heat and exploding ammunition pushed him back. He knew there was nothing he could do for his poor mates. Ron remembered seeing an unexploded 500 pound bomb that had rolled under the front of one of the trucks, with one of the men yelling: “Get Out! Its going to blow!” Everyone ran. Luckily, the bomb didn’t explode, but three others did, two on impact and the third later.

At the dawn service 71 years later he recalled two incidents that had always stuck in his mind and as if they had happened yesterday. His voice started to crack and and his eyes misted with emotion as he spoke about seeing D Company mates on fire from the burning aviation fuel. “I saw one of our men walking out from the flames, all startled and confused, then watched him just turn around and walk back in, from where he didn’t return,” Ron said. He also remembered seeing one of the American crew of the Liberator walk up to an Australian officer, Lt. Ray Whitfield, as if about to stand to attention, and asked, “ Is there anything I can do sir?” In that moment Ron recalled how the American collapsed and died in front him minutes later.

Ron said: “We didn’t stay at the crash scene too long as we were put on the transport trucks to be loaded onto the awaiting DC3 planes for our next mission to Nadzab. The plane trip was really quiet. We didn’t say much but we were all thinking about what had just happened back at the marshalling area. Even though it was such a tragic event and we had lost so many mates, we had to just stay focussed and keep going. There was a lot more ahead of us.”

After the Port Moresby service it was decided something needed to be done with the information that had been gathered, thus the birth of the Liberator website LiberatorCrash.com, which contains all of the research information, official documents, photos, commemorations and everything known about the crash which was not only the worst air disaster in Australian history, but also the worst in the history of the 43rd Bomb Group.

Following the rejection by the Australian War Memorial to give the plaque a place of honour in Canberra, the 2/33rd Battalion Association President, Ray Gibson, arranged for the plaque to be put on display at the Singleton Army Museum, but, after a time it was put in storage and only displayed on special occasions.

After an appeal to the then Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull to help find a home for the plaque, the Curator of the Anzac Memorial, in Hyde Park, Sydney, Brad Manera, eagerly accepted it as a donation for display in perpetuity, an offer made possible by a $38.3 million upgrade of the memorial to create new spaces for the community and to deliver enhanced education and interpretation for the Anzac legacy. The plaque was officially handed over during the 75th Liberator crash Anniversary service at the Anzac Memorial on September 7, 2018, held in the Memorial’s northern courtyard. The plaque is seen by thousands of visitors each year.

The more than 200 people who attended included many relatives of crash victims as well as dignitaries, among them Linda Daetwyler, Acting US Consul General in Sydney; Mr Leo Oaeke, Acting Consul General of Papua New Guinea; Mr Dick Payten, O.A.M., President of the 7th Division A.I.F.Association; Lieutenant-Colonel Gregory Colton, representing Major General Fergus McLachlan, Commander, Headquarters Forces Command; Regimental Sergeant Major W.O. Class 1, Rod Cornick, O.A.M.; Ms Caroline Mackaness, Honorary Secretary and Director Veterans Affairs, Department of Justice and Anzac Memorial Trustee and Memorial Trustee Brigadier Paul O’Sullivan, A.M., M.B.E. (Ret’d). All read names of the Australian crash victims.

Mr Ken Keisling travelled with his wife, Pearl, from South Carolina in the United States of America to honour his uncle, John Hrywnak, and represent the 403rd Bombardment Squadron and relatives of the US airmen who lost their lives in the crash. He read the names of the 11 crew. Brad Manera, delivered the welcoming address. Mrs Margaret Squires, the Battalion Association secretary and daughter of NX32658 Captain Phil Curry M.C. read moving extracts from the eye-witness accounts of the crash by Bill Crooks (recorded on Page 272 of The Footsoldiers ) and from the personal memoirs of past association president, Ray Gibson. A former Governor of NSW, Professor The Honourable Marie Bashir, A.D., C.V.O., was among those to lay wreaths.

James Griffin MP, represented the NSW Minister for Veterans Affairs, David Elliott, and read a message from the Prime Minister, The Honourable Scott Morrison. The message read:

Following the successful 75th Anniversary Commemoration and a highly successful Kokoda trek in 2017 to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Kokoda campaign, the 2/33rd Association commissioned a second plaque, paid for by the trekkers who were descendants of SX1662 Jack Balfour-Ogilvy, NX81054 Ronald Bean, NX95329 Harry Bonham, NX12806 William Dick Fletcher, NX81910 Robert Gawne and NX44575 Allan Sparrow.

The second plaque on display in the departure lounge of Jackson’s International Airport, Port Moresby, is identical to the first plaque, except for the addition of the Liberator website, LiberatorCrash.com in the bottom right hand corner in the hope of attracting the interest of international Kokoda trekkers waiting to catch flights home. The plaque is only a short distance from the crash site which is on private land and can’t be visited except with special permission.

The 73 men who died as a result of the crash are also remembered and honoured by a special plaque on display in the Pacific War Museum, Texas. Working with the Admiral Nimitz Foundation, the Hart family, relatives of Lieutenant Ralph Hart, commissioned the plaque.