CRASH OF A LIBERATOR
AT ROCKHAMPTON AIRFIELD, QLD
ON 14 DECEMBER 1943

visits since 6 October 2001

A B-24 Liberator overshot runway (33) at Rockhampton airfield during WW2 and ended up in Lion Creek with the possible loss of all 15 (approx) on board. Ron Hempenstall advised that this crash took place on 14 December 1943. Ron's information had suggested that there was no loss of life in this accident. 

B-24 Liberator crash at Lion Creek, Rockhampton

Ernie Cox has a picture of the crashed Liberator. The person he got the picture from has the HF radio and a compass from the plane. 

Lion Creek was bridged at the crash site within the last couple of years (prior to 2003) and runway 15/33 which is the main runway at Rockhampton extended for a distance to the north.

In his book, "Men of Vision over Capricorn", Glenn S Cousins, indicates that the B-24 crashed on 14 December 1943 into Lion Creek on the northern end of Connor Park, killing all on board after overshooting the runway. He states that it was full of Australian and American Service personnel on leave or in transit. He states that the locals stripped the wreck of anything that was removable in the short period of time before a guard was placed.

A newspaper article in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin on 14 June 2003 suggests that 13 Australian servicemen from this Lion Creek crash are buried in the North Rockhampton War cemetery. Perhaps the story of this Lion Creek crash and the one at Canal Creek, 30 miles north of  Rockhampton on 19 Dec 1943 (5 days later) have been confused over time. 

Can anyone confirm whether anyone was killed in the Lion Creek crash?

Bob Mullins remembers visiting most of the crashes in the Rockhampton area that I have listed on my web pages. He had a piece of propeller blade from the Spitfire and last year donated it to the Caloundra Aircraft Museum. On the propeller blade he had painted the date and details of the crash. This would be available from the Caloundra Museum. He remembers the Liberator, Spitfire, Beaufighter and Kittyhawk crashes. There was a C-47 Dakota also which overshot the runway and spent some weeks on Canoona Road where the local kids managed to obtain many bits and pieces. Bob had the perspex from the toilet window of the C-47 to make brooches and his friend Bert Cairns (now deceased who eventually joined the RAAF) had the wheel from the joystick and other bits and pieces. After the Coral Sea battle a B-17 Flying Fortress landed at Connor Park all shot up and lost a propeller on its landing approach, with the propeller landing in the mud on the edge of the Fitzroy River. Unfortunately 12 year old kids did not keep diaries so Bob has no specific dates.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Ernie Cox for his assistance with this home page.

I'd also like to thank Bob Mullins who as a boy lived near Connor Park airfield in Rockhampton.

I'd also like to thank Ron Hempenstall who has lived in Rockhampton all his life.

REFERENCES

"Men of Vision over Capricorn"
Glenn S. Cousins

Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, 20 April 1991

Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, 14 June 2003

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

"Australia @ War"

This page first produced 6 October 2001

This page last updated 20 October 2003