Veteran George Munroe, 7th BG recalls:
"[On February 22, 1942] We parked our B-17s, and these planes came in from one of the Dutch islands loaded with woman and children.  God, it was awful. The flies were awful, stick to you like glue. They were all over the children, the mothers were absolutely distraught most had left their husbands behind and just evacuated. I don't know why we went there, there were a lot of things we did just in case, probably incase the Japanese ran a mission over Townsville."

Veteran Richard E. Oliver 7th BG recalls:
"It was hotter than the devil, a terrible place, flies you just couldn't imagine, you couldn't brush them away. The town was like you had gone back 150 years to the last century, it was just that kind of place. You couldn't get much that was fit to eat as far as we were concerned, mostly just mutton and most of us couldn't stand mutton. We were there overnight before flying back to Townsville."

Units Based at Cloncurry
(Dates are DD.MM.YY)

RAAF
29 OBU ... 22.06.42 - 05.07.43
30 OBU ... 12.12.42 - 19.09.46
107 Radar Station ... 01.06.42 - 11.09.42
108 Radar Station ... 01.06.42 - 11.09.42

USAAF
19th BG, 435th BS (B-17s) formed March 14, 1942
19 BG, 28 BS (B-17s) c28.03.42 - May 5, 1942 Longreach
19 BG, 30 BS (B-17s) c27.03.42 - May 13, 1942 Longreach
19 BG, 93 BS (B-17s) 29.03.42 - May 18, 1942 Longreach