TWO FORCED LANDINGS
AND TWO CRASHES
OF 548 SQUADON RAF SPITFIRES
ON 10 JUNE 1944
IN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

On 10 June 1944, the first formation of twelve Spitfires of 548 Squadron RAF departed Amberley Airfield at 1025 hours headed for Darwin via Townsville. The Spitfires were piloted by:-

F/Lt Watts
F/O Hickin
P/O Starkey
F/Lt Price
P/O Davison (or Davidson)
F/Sgt Hennessy
F/Sgt Buchan
F/O Cannon
F/O Cody
F/Lt Calder
P/O Brown
P/O Griffiths

They were escorted by 2 Beauforts and a Douglas which carried the servicing party. The weather report was 3/10 cloud at 6,000 feet over Townsville, clearing with 10/10 cloud as far as Mackay.

After 1 1/2 hours they were at 10,500 feet above three 7/10 cloud layers which were in effect 10/10. At about 1345 hours P/O Alan Edward Davison's engine in Spitfire A58-345 TS-E cut out through some fault in the fuel system and he made a forced landing 8 miles north of Proserpine on Magnetti and Company's farm north of the Proserpine River.

Photo:- Gordon Birkett Collection

Remains of Spitfire A58-345 TS-E in a sugar cane field 8 miles north of Proserpine

Photo:- Gordon Birkett Collection

Remains of Spitfire A58-345 TS-E north of Proserpine

Photo:- Tom Dobkins

A different view Spitfire A58-345 TS-E

Local, Walter Magnetti, was getting dressed for his own wedding at the local church and was still in his underwear when he saw Spitfire A58-345 hit the ground in the Foxdale/Up River area. Walter said there was a large explosion and a ball of fire that could be seen almost 8 miles away. Walter raced from his house to check on the safety of the pilot. When he arrived on the scene he found his cousin Wilma who was also in her underwear!! The pilot, Pilot Officer Davison, had been thrown clear and he kept telling them to "Keep clear of the plane" until he passed out. Walter was eventually late for his wedding with the bridal car having to drive around town a few times until he eventually arrived.

Another conflicting story indicated that Livio DeAndrea had arrived first on the scene and the pilot had asked him to turn off the controls! Ivo Botta remembered the pilot being carried up to the house. The ladies in the house offered him some brandy but when neighbour Walter Dodd arrived, he said, that as the pilot was in shock, it was too dangerous to give him brandy. Pilot Officer Davison ignored Walter's advice and gulped down the brandy to help calm his nerves.

At that time, the farm where the Spitfire crashed was owned by Mario Botta (Ivo's father), who was a partner of Magnetti and Company. In June 2024, the farm was owned by the Orr family. As locals were starting to souvenir parts from the wreckage, local Eddie Maloney, stood guard with his .303 rifle until the Home Guard arrived. The Home Guard personnel stayed in the farm's barracks until the wreckage was removed.

The pilot, P/O Davison, was in the Proserpine hospital for some time and he then stayed at Mr. Arthur Dobbins' residence after that until he returned to England. Mrs. Dobbins, who was a member of the local Volunteer Air Observers Corps, commented that Davison's hands would shake so violently when she handed him a cup of tea that he spilt most of the tea.

The Commanding Officer's R/T failed around the same time that P/O Davison crashed his Spitfire. The Beaufort went through the clouds to get a position fix, closely followed by F/Lt Watts and F/Lt Calder. The others were a bit too spread out to follow. The Beaufort gave a fix, but P/O Davison had been heading for the coast and as there was no VHF in the Beaufort nobody could contact them.

F/O Cody gave a rendezvous to the rest of the formation, and as soon as their ETA was reached, went down through the clouds only to find themselves out to sea with the clouds down very low. By very good flying, excellent judgment, and perhaps a little good fortune, Magnetic Island was eventually found and a safe landing at Garbutt Airfield in Townsville was executed.

P/O Brown in Spitfire A58-350 JG416 was most unfortunate and crashed after landing which was entirely bad luck not due to his own fault. Someone had left 3 fuel drums in the middle of the runway, and P/O Brown being very tired after the long flight from Amberley, and only too glad to be down after such a harrowing experience, did not see the drums until it was too late and hit a fuel vent with his wing whilst taxying, and ended up on his nose.

Photo:- Gordon Birkett Collection

Spitfire A58-350 JG416 at Amberley prior to its camouflage being removed back to silver

F/Lt Price landed at Ingham.

F/Sgt Buchan after patrolling Cape Bowling Green Bay for about 20 minutes forced landed in a field with wheels down and somehow got away with it.

The second group of 12 Spitfires left Amberley at 1210 hours on 10 June 1944. They also hit cloud cover. F/Sgt Merrick, F/Lt Palmer and F/Sgt Shorland landed safely at Woodstock Airfield. F/Lt Aiken, F/O Hill, P/O Bell, F/Sgt Hopkins, F/O Saunders and Sgt Reid managed to break cloud cover and set out for Garbutt Airfield. On the way, F/Sgt Hopkin's engine in Spitfire A58-383 (JG415) cut out at 200 feet and he tore both wings off when he made a forced landing and broke the fuselage behind the cockpit. He landed on a beach near a crocodile infested river, near Giru.

On 17 June 1944, a salvage party from 6 Central Recovery Depot RAAF based at Breddan, recovered a Spitfire at Proserpine in Queensland. Presumably this was Spitfire A58-345 TS-E.

REFERENCES

Operations Record Book for 548 Squadron RAF

"Units of the Royal Australian Air Force - A Concise History"
Volume 7 - Maintenance Units

"Mackay and Whitsunday Life" 6 June 2024

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Gordon Birkett and Wayne Melrose for their assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products