Crash of a Tugan LJW7 Gannet in the Arnhem Land
Date & Time:
May 19, 1942
Operator:
Registration:
A14-6
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Batchelor – Groote Eylandt
MSN:
TA-55
YOM:
1936
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
1
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
The airplane departed Batchelor on an ambulance flight to Groote Eylandt, carrying one nurse and two crew members. While cruising over Arnhem Land, the crew became lost. The pilot attempted an emergency landing when it crashed in a swampy area and came to rest upside down. All three occupants escaped with minor injuries and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair. After 10 days in an hostile environment, the three survivors built make-shift raft from aircraft parts and set off drifting down the Cato River. After several days they were located by Aborigines who took them to Elcho Island Mission then on to the RAAF Station on Millingimbi Island, where they arrived 33 days after the crash.
Crew:
F/Sgt Francis Smallhorn, pilot,
AC1 George Booth, radio operator.
Passenger:
Cpl Phillip Bronk, nurse.
Crew:
F/Sgt Francis Smallhorn, pilot,
AC1 George Booth, radio operator.
Passenger:
Cpl Phillip Bronk, nurse.
