9/11: The Final Flight

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11. The Final Flight

Early in the morning of June 14, 1943, before the first light of dawn, six crewmen and thirty five passengers boarded the old, war-torn airplane now known as VH-CBA. It was operated by a detachment of airmen from the 46th Troop Carrier Squadron, based in Townsville, and had been grounded for nearly a month for major maintenance. During the previous week, the plane was thoroughly inspected and a third test flight had been made the previous day. The aircraft checked out to the satisfaction of the pilots, the engineering officer, and the crew chief.1

One by one, each of the four engines of the former Flying Fortress bomber began to start. At a signal from 1/Lt. Vern J. Gidcumb, the pilot, the wheel chocks were removed, …show more content…
From four o'clock in the afternoon they would appear from the north and, from five o'clock in the morning, the roar of their engines could be heard as they prepared for the flight northwards.

She went on to say, "Normally, the Fortresses gained altitude quickly, their noses pointing upwards." But on this morning, after the aircraft had risen to about 300 feet, she realized that it was in trouble. As it made a sweep to the west and north after takeoff, she sensed that the pilot could not lift the nose.

Sitting in the saddle, unable to do anything but watch, Miss Rogers followed the flight of the Fortress in the fateful minutes before it fell from the sky, crashing on to what is now the site of the Thomas Borthwick and Sons abattoir (meat processing plant).

She could picture the pilot ("poor devil," she called him) desperately battling with the controls to gain altitude. The engines then began backfiring and finally the last backfire illuminated the entire fuselage from cockpit to tail and the fortress fell almost horizontally from the sky. It disappeared from view and there was a tremendous crash. Miss Rogers said that in a straight line she was about a mile and half from the crash site but she could feel the ground reverberating under herself and the horse. She said, “the whole countryside was lit up by a brilliant flash of fire.”
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