Crash of a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina off Pomelaa Harbour: 9 killed

Date & Time: Oct 1, 1943
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
A24-67
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Darwin - Darwin
MSN:
1444
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
10
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
9
Circumstances:
The crew was completing a torpedo attack on enemy ships in Pomelaa Harbour when the aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed into the sea. Eight crew members were killed while two others were rescued. One of the survivor died a day later.
Crew (20th Squadron):
F/O Norman Falkner Dwyer, †
F/O Ronald Frank Dickinson, †
P/O Douglas Graham McDiarmed, †
Sgt Frank Haydock Thomson, †
Sgt Thomas Stephen McMahon, †
Cpl Samuel James Carnell, †
F/Lt Jack Robert Hyde, †
Lt Palgrave Ebden Carr,
F/Lt John Malcolm Barnes, †
W/Cdr Stanley Gordon Stilling. †
Probable cause:
Shot down by enemy fire.