THE BROOK ISLAND TRIAL
DURING WW2
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B-24 Liberator
On 3 December 1943, a decision was made that up to 25 RAAF aircrews would be attached to the USAAF's Fifth Air Force to gain experience with B-24 Liberators as the RAAF were due to receive this type of aircraft in the near future. Five Australian crews were attached to a USAAF unit at Charters Towers. The Captains of these crews were:-
Sqn. Ldr. John B. "Long John"
Hampshire
Sqn Ldr. Jack O'Brien
Sqn. Ldr. Bill Rehfisch
Sqn. Ldr. "Rusty" Rayson
Flt. Lt. Gordon "Mick" Jaques
One of the more notable flights they took part in was on 21 January 1944. After their briefing they were met at their aircraft by a US Army chemical-warfare specialist, who had earlier supervised the loading of mustard gas bombs. These bombs were over a metre long and about 15 cms in diameter, weighing about 45 kgs. Each B-24 Liberator carried 60 mustard gas bombs.
The five RAAF crews took off along with the Commanding Officer at Charters Towers, Lt. Col. Joss Crowder. Flying for 90 minutes, at less than 1,000 feet to minimise the chance of a drop in pressure causing a leak, they bombed a small island in the Great Barrier Reef (assumed to be Brook Island).
Sqn Ldr. Hampshire had been advised by Lt. Col Crowder that 50 volunteers from US military prisons were used as guinea pigs for the mission. They had been promised freedom if they would occupy underground tunnels during the bombing mission. Hampshire was told by Crowder that all 50 prisoners had died in this mustard gas experiment.
Australian
Chemical Warfare Research
and Experimental Section, Innisfail
The following information is part of a response by Senator Newman - The Minister for Defence - providing an answer to a "Question on Notice" by Senator Woodley in the Australian Senate on 25 August 1997:-
Bristol Beaufort
The `Brook Island Trial' took place on North Brook Island in February 1944. It was the culmination of various tests which had been conducted in the Innisfail area. Aircraft weapons, comprising both gas filled bombs and various types of gas spray were tested using Beaufort bombers from Bowen. The effects were measured on Japanese-style bunkers and foxholes containing goats.
Chemical sampling equipment was installed, and troops landed at various times after the bombing in different types of anti-gas protection equipment. The testing of mustard gas on volunteers took place on the mainland at Innisfail. This physiological research was to determine the effects of mustard vapour on the human body under tropical conditions. Other tests conducted at Innisfail included the tolerance of man to dibutyl phthalate, which was used to suppress the vector of scrub typhus, and the effect of wearing anti-gas clothing on the ability of troops to perform normal duties and do heavy work in a tropical rain forest. Details of the testing are summarised in the `Gillis Report', which was tabled in Federal Parliament on March 1987 by the then Minister for Defence.
There was no Army hospital at Woodstock. The 2/14 Army General Hospital was located in Townsville. During the mustard gas trials at Innisfail, a ward at Innisfail hospital was dedicated for use by the medical and scientific staff conducting the trials. The ward was used from 1943 until the end of 1944 when the Field Experimental Station and the 1st Field Trials Company were moved to Proserpine. Medical records or case histories were maintained on all volunteers, not all of whom were hospitalised. Most, if not all, of these case histories are contained in `Chemical Warfare--Trials', Australian War Memorial Series 54, 179/5/7, Parts 1 to 10. These records are open for public access.
Personal medical records were maintained during the trials and would have formed part of the volunteer's medical record. At the end of the war, the medical records of all ex-servicemen were sent to the then Repatriation Department in the State of enlistment of the member.
Brook Island was used for the aerial delivery of mustard vapour. Hinchinbrook Island was not used for testing purposes, but was used occasionally as a staging area for personnel waiting to go to Brook Island to check the equipment after bombing had taken place. There is no evidence that Dunk Island was used for any military activities.
Cpl Patterson Charles Mills (75066) was a member of 6 Transportation and Movements Office RAAF during WW2. Whilst in Townsville, probably late 1942, Cpl Mills and a few RAAF and USAAF members were awoken early one morning and assembled on a deserted beach to the north of the city. They were given the mission of crewing a barge and delivering 44 gallon drums of unknown material to a small island. These drums weighed very little, appearing empty. To see them off there were some high ranking officers of both forces. The cargo was delivered to the island after about a 12 hour journey, and shortly after the return journey commenced, they ran out of fuel. Cpl Mills wondered whether this had been deliberate. They drifted for a number of days in the Coral Sea without a search for them being mounted. They were eventually picked up by the corvette HMAS Bowen. Upon their return, there was no one to meet them and they were split up. To this day Cpl Mills does not know what the mission was about, what the cargo was, or why the silence upon their return. He has often wondered if the drums contained gas. He also intrigued by the obvious importance of the mission's departure compared to the lack of concern for their non return after delivering their mysterious cargo.
Was this a delivery of drums to Brook Island perhaps, or somewhere else?
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© Peter Dunn 2003 |
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This page first produced 5 December 1998
This page last updated 31 March 2007
AUSTRALIA
@ WAR
