CRASH OF A P-39 AIRACOBRA
2 MILES SOUTH OF LUDDENHAM, NSW
ON 19 FEBRUARY 1943

P-39 Airacobra, A53-1,  of 24 Squadron RAAF suffered an engine failure at 0930 hrs on 19 February 1943. The pilot, Pilot Officer A.F. Tutt (400108) could not maintain flying speed and decided that it was impossible to reach his base. He abandoned the aircraft which subsequently crashed 2 miles south of Luddenham in New South Wales.

Lex Dwyer told me that there had been a fire at the rear of the aircraft. He said that Tutt bailed out and landed backwards in strong winds in his parachute hitting a passion fruit trellis. He pulled down a number of these trellises leaving one very unhappy farmer.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Lex Dwyer for his assistance with this web page. Lex rang me on 15 July 2005 for an interesting discussion about his time in the RAAF during WW2.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 18 April 2003

This page last updated 27 January 2020