Aircraft History
Built for a cost of $297,627. Received by the USAAF on May 26, 1943. This aircraft arrived in Australia on July 14, 1943.

Mission History
Took off from Jackson (7-Mile) in Port Moresby. Part of a 10 B-24 raid to Rabaul's Vunakanau Airfield. Instead, it bombed the alternate target at Cape Hoskins, with 100lbs bombs. Damage was noted as one small lugger sunk in harbor and a large column of smoke and a fire in target area. On the way back to base, it was lost over the northern New Guinea. The pilot ordered his crew to bail out, while he and the co-pilot force landed the Liberator into a flat grassy area west of Gona.

Pilot Carl A. Nelson noted in his flight log:
"Bombed Hoskin strip. Crash landed 6 miles N.W. Gona Wreach (sp), 8 men bailed out all ok. 2 men with ship ok".

Rescue
The next day, they were air-dropped supplies by three B-24's (2 of the 64h BS, one of 63rd BS). With the help of local people, all of the crew re-grouped and were rescued and returned to base. The mission cost five Liberators, including B-24D "Mitsu Butcher" 41-24043, B-24D 42-40670, B-24D 42-40885, B-24D 41-41088 and B-24D "Mission Belle" 42-40389. Nelson next flew a combat mission on October 29th.

On a sadly ironic note, TSgt Lucian I. Oliver later went MIA on November 21, 1943 with B-24D 42-40886 (the next B-24 in production line) on a night radar search over the Wewak area.

Wartime Salvage
A week after the crash, a landing craft arrived at the coast and an American salvage team recovered the four engines, landing gear, guns and turrets from the bomber, using a jeep to move larger pieces of the bomber.

John Douglas observed in his 2000 visit:
"The villagers remember the plane crashed, including the fact that the pilot was named Nelson and the other crew member was a redhead."

Justin Taylan visited the site September 4, 2005:
"Locals told the story of how thier fathers: Clive Burau, Hayward Geroya and Copland Vigaba were gardening in the area near where the bomber force landed.  They witnessed the eight men bailing out, and the crash. One of the men, Copland Vigaba was given a note by the pilot and ran down to Yamboro where Australian soldiers were camped. He then led the Australians to the crash site to rescue the bomber's crew."

References
Thanks to Carl Nelson's nephew, Robert Nelson for photos and log book entry. After the war, John Pfeiffer wrote an account of the incident. Are you a member or relative of this bomber's crew? Contact Us

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009

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