Pacific Wrecks
Pacific Wrecks    
  Missing In Action (MIA) Prisoners Of War (POW) Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)  
Chronology Locations Aircraft Ships Submit Info How You Can Help Donate
Robert K. Piper
Australian & New Guinea Aviation Author
In memory: Robert K. Piper passed away February 19, 2019

Click For EnlargementRobert Kendall Piper is a researcher and author of many articles and several books on World War II aviation and topics related to the Pacific War. As a young man he lived in Port Moresby and learned to fly in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He later became the official Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) historian for 15 years then worked with Veterans Affairs for another 12 years before retirement. Also, he been involved with studies of aircraft crash sites and erecting memorials. Since the 1980s he has written for for Australian newspapers and Flightpath Magazine and conducted research as "Military Aviation Research Services – Canberra". He is the author of two books: Great Air Escapes (1991) and The Hidden Chapters (1995).

Books, articles and publications by Robert Piper
RAAF News "Search among the peaks" July 1980 details Wirraway A20-116
Escape From The Flying Dutchman 1981 details C-47 "Flying Dutchman" 41-18564
The Canberra Times "Escape from the Hidden Valley" 1981 details C-47A 42-23952 crashed in the Hidden Valley (Balim)
The Canberra Times "The flight of the ‘Diamond Dakota" 1981 details "Diamond DC-3" DC-3 PK-AFV
Defence Force Journal "Escape From Shangri-La" No. 29 July/August 1981 pages 31-36 [PDF] details C-47A 42-23952 crash and rescue
The Canberra Times "An airstrip made for heroes" 1982
The Canberra Times "Mystery of the abandoned dive-bombers" 1982 details the D3A1 Vals force landed at Doba, Table Bay
The Canberra Times "The second life of the SS Pruth" 1982 details the shipwreck of SS Pruth off Port Moresby
Sabretache: The Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia "Abandoned Japanese Bombers: Papua 1942" Jan-Mar 1983 p. 13 details D3A1 Vals force landed at Doba, Table Bay
The Canberra Times "Epitaph for a Darwin Raider" February 12, 1983 page 13
The Canberra Times "The Liberator that vanished" May 28, 1983 details B-24D Beautiful Betsy" 42-40387
RAAF News "Invaded!: Astonishing story of Japanese landings in Australia" January-February 1985, 2 pages
RAAF Townsville Base Museum "Townsville Under Attack" monograph 1985
The Australasian Post "The Forgotten Prisoner" September 12, 1985 pages 12-13
The Canberra Times "The forgotten air raids on Horn Island" 1987 details Horn Island
Australian Defense Force Journal "The Royal Australian Air Force at Guadalcanal" Issue 87 (March - April 1991) pages 27-34
Great Air Escapes: The heroes who beat the odds (1991) by Robert Piper
The Hidden Chapters: Untold stories of Australians at war in the Pacific (1995) by Robert Piper
Sabretache: The Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia "The Duel: Petty Officer Kawato flew in what is believed to be one of the last Zero fighter actions in the South West Pacific during World War II" vol. 27 no. 3 (1986) pp 25-28 details A6M2 Zero pilot Kawato
The Australasian Post "Dive-bomber 'blows-ins'" January 2, 1986 details D3A1 Vals force landed at Doba near Table Bay
Aircraft Owner and Pilots Association of Australia (AOPA) "Horn Island Air Raids" December 1987 details air raids against Horn Island
The Canberra Times "Forgotten Air Raids" October 3, 1987 details air raids against Horn Island
Panorama "Zero ace honours his foes" February 14, 1998 details Saburo Sakai and Hudson A16-201
The Canberra Times "WWII aircraft wreck brings back special memories" October 21, 1996 details Ventura A59-55
The Canberra Times "Gunning to commemorate wartime air crash" November 11, 1996 details Anson AX420
Goulburn Post article November 11, 1996 details Anson AX420
Air Force News "Tumut Remembers Wartime RAAF Tragedy" December 1998 details Beaufighter A19-108
The Daily Telegraph "Chance find solves mystery" 2000
American air crash to be commemorated. Pacific Flyer (2003
Air Force "Kamikaze Mystery" Volume 46, No.13 July 29, 2004
Flightpath "Captain McLaughlin comes home" 2004 details P-40 pilot McLaughlin
The Canberra Times "Glimmer of hope for long-lost souls" March 7, 2012 details Dakota A65-56
Australian Pilot "Liberator Lost and Found" by Robert Piper March 2013 pages 68-69
PNG Air Magazine "Solved - The Mystery of the Floating Flag" Volume 5, October 2016
"Zero Lost - Zero Found" April 2017 pages 30-38
Papua New Guinea Association of Australia (PNGAA) "Some of our Airmen are Still Missing" August 18, 2018
Air Niugini Magazine "Number One Strip Milne Bay" details Gurney Airfield (No. 1 Strip, Fall River)
The Premonition “A Song for Sister Sheah” details Sister Verdun Bernice Sheah killed aboard Dakota A65-54
PNG Air Magazine "The Day A Cat's Luck Gave Out' details Catalina A24-9
PNG Air Magazine "Zero In The Tree Tops" details A6M2 Zero 645 pilot PO2c Tsutomou Ito
"War Comes To Australia" Article written to accompany Petty Officer Hajime Toyoshima flag and flight suit at RAAF Museum Point Cook


  Discussion Forum Daily Updates Reviews Museums Interviews & Oral Histories  
 
Pacific Wrecks Inc. All rights reserved.
Donate Now Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram