CRASH OF A P-400 AIRACOBRA
AT TARA, WANDOVALE STATION,
NEAR MARYVALE STATION, NORTH QUEENSLAND
ON 28 JANUARY 1943
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

Captain Lew Lockhart was in Charters Towers, in north Queensland, Australia in January 1943 checking out in P-38s. On 28 January 1943 he was getting some flying time in  P-400 Airacobra BX141, MSN14-382 of the 41st Pursuit Squadron, 35th Pursuit Group, when the coolant leaked out and he had to bail out somewhere north of Charters Towers airfield. The aircraft burned on impact as Lew Lockhart said he saw a lot of smoke. He walked onto a cattle station but cannot recall the name of the owner. Lew and the owner went back on horses several days later but could not find the P-400 Airacobra.

Capt. Lockhart in a P-47 in New Guinea

Photo:- Steve Cushman

A more recent photograph of Lew Lockhart standing behind a
4WD vehicle from "Go Remote Adventures ... Not Vacations"

My friend John Jewell told me about the above crash of a P-400 Airacobra at Tara, which is on Wandovale Station about 110 miles from Charters Towers. Before his aircraft decided to pack it in, the pilot Captain Lew Lockhart saw the Maryvale Station homestead. The pilot parachuted out safely and decided to walk to Maryvale Station. He came across a set of cattle yards and a hut. (the 4 Mile yards, John thinks). The yards are on Maryvale Station's part of Tara. They are only used probably once a year. The pilot found a newspaper in the hut. It was dated 1937. He thought he was a goner as he thought nobody had been there for about 5/6 years. He was not game to drink the clear water from Maryvale Creek as he had no purification tablets. He finally made it to Maryvale homestead where he was made welcome. Eventually a US vehicle came from Charters Towers and picked him up. John said that he never saw the crash site when he was working on Wandovale Station, but he knew where it was.

On one occasion John's brother Jim Jewell was riding a bad horse called "Acid" who could really buck at the least provocation. Anyhow "Acid" threw Jim who was a good horseman and it bolted off. The other ringers finally caught "Acid" near the P-400 crash site.

Robin Whelan, nephew of Edgar Clarke, the owner of Maryvale, (Rob was one of the last 25 Timor Commandos to be taken off Timor on USS Gudgeon), went to the crash site shortly after the war and he and Edgar salvaged as many nuts and bolts etc as possible as they were in short supply after the war. Rob told John Jewell me about the pilot's walk as his sisters, Bay and June were living at Maryvale at the time.

Robert Cooke worked at Wandovale Station from 1969 to 1971 and he told me that there were aircraft wheels in the tree and lots of small pieces of aluminum like tin foil on the ground.

The location of the crash site was at a water bore called Mt Louisa bore on Maryvale Station. Frank Burnham

Robert Cooke told me that Wandovale Station was cut up and sold to the owner of Junction Creek Station, Ted Clark in the 1980's. He took the engine and was going to use it to pump water. Robert said that from the crash site he believed that the pilot would have followed Tara Gorge down to the Homestead.

Frank Burnham told me about an aircraft that crashed on "Wandovale Station" at Wild Horse bore, not Mt Louisa bore. He worked on Wandovale as a stockman in the eight mile bullock camp and mustered the country around the bore and once drove out to the site of the crash. His memory is dim but he can clearly remember wreckage and seeing ammunition in clips in what may have been aluminium casing. He told me that the old timers reckoned that the aircraft was returning from a mission and could not make it back to base. The pilot was said to have bailed out and the aircraft flew on until it ran out of fuel.

I was contacted by Benny Madigan on 14 September 2022 and he told me that his father was the head stockman at 12 Mile Station from 1981 to around 1986. 12 Mile Station was an outstation of Wandovale. Benny was a young boy at that time and grew up there. His father's mother and father had worked there for years before his father moved there. Benny told me that there was a limestone cave system and a beautiful swimming hole at 6 Mile Creek some five to ten kilometers from 12 Mile Station and his father would take them there every now and then. On the way they we would come across the crash site of a WWII aircraft and as a kid Benny was fascinated by it. He did not know for sure if the pilot lived or died but he remembers the huge bullets lying around, the broken glass and the huge wheels. He said it was pretty smashed up. Benny collected some ammunition and bits and pieces.

Benny said that Wandovale was a huge property when he was there, about 800 square miles, and at that stage it had at least three outstations. They were small villages in themselves, and at mustering time he can remember 12 Mile Station had around twenty aboriginal stockmen and five or six white ringers or stockmen. His father was boss of them and he would bring back thousands of cattle to the stockyards to be drafted. They would fill the horizon with dust.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Steve Chushman of "Go Remote Adventures ... Not Vacations" for his assistance with this web page.

I'd like to thank Lew Lockhart, Gordon Birkett, John Jewell, Robert Cooks, and Frank Burnham for their assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 16 March 2019

This page last updated 11 December 2023