6 July 1942 - Force-landing of a B-17E Flying Fortress on the west side of Cape York

FORCE-LANDING OF A B-17E FLYING FORTRESS
ON THE WEST SIDE OF CAPE YORK
ON 6 JULY 1942

On 6 July 1942, B-17E Flying Fortress, #41-2417, "Monkey Biz-ness", of the 19th Bomb Group, piloted by a Mr. Thompson, made a forced landing on the west side of Cape York. It was later salvaged.

B-17E Flying Fortress "Monkey Biz-ness" was originally delivered to Salt Lake City on 19 Jan 1941. It was assigned to the 19th Bomb Group at Hawaii and arrived in Java on 19 February 1942 and was transferred to Project X on 26 December 1942.

"Catalina Squadrons - First and Furthest" by Jack Riddell describes a search mission on 7 July 1942 by Catalina A24-14, captained by Squadron Leader Dick Atkinson, with 2nd Pilot, P/O Dunham. They were looking for a missing B-17 Flying Fortress which was eventually found at Mitchell River on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Supplies were dropped and the aircraft's position reported. The Catalina then landed at the mouth of the Mitchell River, had dinner, saw some crocodiles, and flew back above the downed B-17 and dropped them a note to advise of the rescue party.

The Forgotten Fifth
A Classic Photographic Chronology of the
Fifth Air Force in Action in the Pacific in WW2
By Michael Claringbould

"Catalina Squadrons - First and Furthest"
"Recounting the Operations of RAAF Catalinas"
"May 1941 to March 1943"
By Jack Riddell

I'd like to thank Paul McMillan for his assistance with the history of this aircraft.

© Peter Dunn 2001
All rights reserved. No part of this home page may be reproduced, stored in a retreival system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Peter Dunn in writing.

Why not join my Discussion List
on Military Aircraft Crashes in
Australia during World War Two

To subscribe send an e-mail to

OzCrashes-subscribe@topica.com

Australia @ War
Home pages about events in
Australia during World War 2

Do you need a holiday!
Sun, surf, beautiful beaches and lots more!

Genealogy Software
plus 190 Mbytes of Genealogy Indexes & programs
and a copy of my Australia @ War home page which
includes all of these home pages

DISCLAIMER
Although every care has been taken in presenting this information some of it may be incorrect or incomplete, hence the creator of this website and/or any researcher or writer mentioned in it disclaim any liability in relation to the information, errors or omissions contained herein. Any person intending to use or rely on this information should first confirm it for themselves from other sources. Nevertheless any corrections or additional information will be most welcome.