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| RAAF No. 12 Squadron    Stan Gajda 1980   Rob Lalumiere 2005 |
Pilot F/L Francis Leonard Sismey, 402764 (KIA) Concord, NSW Crew F/O William Samuel Bell, 417693 (KIA) Bagot Well, SA Crew WOFF Thomas Nathan Rust, 408348 (KIA) Wynyard, TAS Crew WOFF Bernard Leslie Cox, 412402 (KIA) Seven Hills, NSW Crew F/Sgt Leonard Duncanson, 59752 (KIA) Brunswick, VIC Crew F/Sgt Lester Maxwell Bailey, 443477 (KIA) Granville, NSW Crew F/Sgt Ivan Nelson Luke Easton (KIA) Vaucluse, NSW Crew F/Sgt Thomas Walter Allen, 440166 (KIA) Earlwood, NSW Crew F/Sgt Donald Douglas Benson, 435604 (KIA) Mosman, QLD Crew F/Sgt John Austin Hollis, 445226 (KIA) Bondi Beach, NSW Crew F/Sgt John Raymond Wilbur Herps, 440858 (KIA) Gladesville, NSW Crashed May 20, 1945 Aircraft History Built by Consolidated at San Diego. Constructors Number 5885. Delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as B-24M-10-CO Liberator serial number 44-41949. Ferried overseas via Hickam Field then across the Pacific to Australia. Wartime History During December 1944, assigned to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as Liberator A72-160. Assigned to No. 12 Squadron. No known nickname or nose art. Mission History On May 20, 1945 took off at night from Truscott Airfield piloted by F/L Francis Leonard Sismey on a bombing mission against Balikpapan. After becoming airborne too early due to a hump in the runway, this bomber climbed to 20' and veered to the left and crash just off the northwest end of runway. As fire and rescue crews raced to the crash, the bombs exploded killing everyone aboard. Wreckage The wreckage of this Liberator remains in situ including the ball turret, engines. Stan Gajda adds: "In 1979, John Hardie recovered one of the .50 caliber machine gun from the Motor Products tail turret. It was the right side gun and now I have it in a waist gun hand-held mounting. Hardie has the other. In 1980 I was there with Hardie and spent a very interesting time going over the wreckage. There was no memorial there then and nobody cared much about it. We pulled another gun from the wreckage which was one of the Martin upper turret guns with its mounts and a spare barrel that was bent. The radar equipment was still there with its gold-plated circuits which Hardie souvenired. I kept the twin ammo feed motors from one of the turrets which I restored and got working again. Putting power on and tripping the micro switch had the motors running, turning the belt feed sprockets. The engines looked real good but had broken reduction casings. Most of the plane had burnt because it had cart wheeled through the sparse bush and sections that came off were not burnt, for example like the cockpit area was smashed but not burnt." Memorials The entire crew is buried at the Adelaide River War Cemetery. Susney at S.A.13. Rust at G. D. 12. Cox at S.A.16. Duncanson at G.D.8. Bell at G.D.7. Bailey at S.A.14. Allen at S.A.15. Easton at G.D.14. Benson at G.D.11. Hollis at G.D.10. Herps at G.D.9. A stone memorial with a cross was errected near the wreckage. References USAF Serial Number Search Results B-24M-10-CO Liberator 44-41949 "41949 to RAAF as A72-160. w/o in crash 5-45." ADF Serials - Liberator A72-160 Contribute Information Are you a relative or associated with any person mentioned? Do you have photos or additional information to add? Last Updated
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