Mackay 1943

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1. MACKAY, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 1943

In June 1943, as the Allies1 were fighting to launch their first counter-offensive against the Japanese, the Japanese forces were advancing toward Australia through the jungles of Papua New Guinea. At the same time, a dark battle-worn bomber stood parked at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aerodrome near the tropical city of Mackay in Queensland. Mackay is 600 miles north of Brisbane on the northeastern coast of Australia.

Painted on its olive-drab fuselage were the white, five pointed stars on blue background marking it as belonging to the U.S. Army Air Forces. Unlike other AAF airplanes, however, there were no identifying serial numbers on its tail surfaces. Instead, displayed was the five-letter international civil registry code designating it as an Australian airplane “VH CBA.”

Three miles north of where VH CBA was parked is the city of Mackay. In this nineteenth month of war in the Southwest Pacific, Mackay was a popular, and safe, seaside resort. It was a city of wide streets, tropical gardens and long …show more content…
Army and the American Red Cross jointly operated a rest and recreation (R&R) center for the American soldiers assigned to war zone units located in the jungles and tropical swamps of New Guinea. From the combat outposts, the men were regularly airlifted on a four and a half-hour, non stop flight from Port Moresby to Mackay, where they found refuge from the horrors of the battlefront and the hardships of life in the steamy, disease-ridden jungle.

As one of three converted bombers assigned to make daily R&R passenger runs between Mackay and Port Moresby, B-17C (VH CBA) was poised to carry its cargo of servicemen north on their return. As it had done nearly every day for the past three months, the fully serviced aircraft and its crew again stood ready again to transport some 35 passengers back to the jungle battlefields in New
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