Crash of a Spitfire near the Regent River, near Drysdale, Western Australia on 22 December 1943

CRASH OF A SPITFIRE
NEAR REGENT RIVER, NEAR DRYSDALE, WA
ON 22 DECEMBER 1943

On 22 December 1943, F.VC Spitfire A58-51 (BR545), piloted by Flying Officer Derreck W. Gray of 54 Squadron RAF at Darwin, was on a ferry flight to Drysdale when it ran low on fuel and made a forced landing just off the coast near the Regent River near Drysdale in Western Australia. F/O Gray survived the successful forced landing and he was located the following afternoon on a mud flat a considerable distance past Drysdale and rescued a few days later. The terrain in his vicinity was not suitable to allow an aircraft to land, so a lugger was sent from Kummainya Mission to pick F/O Gray up. He arrived at Drysdale on 25 December 1943 safe but fatigued. F/O Gray returned to 54 Squadron RAF on 28 December 1943.

The remains of the Spitfire were located on 24 December 1943 and a recovery team from 7 RSU visited the site on 5 January 1944. Due to the position of the wreckage in tidal waters they were unable to reach the aircraft and it was written off on 22 January 1944. Whilst it had been recommended that it be destroyed by strafing or bombing, this was never carried out.

Most of the aircraft wreckage was recovered in 1987 and taken to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook in Victoria. A link to a video documenting this recovery operation can be seen below.

Spitfire BR545 arrived in Australia in a disassembled state on board the SS Hoperidge on 23 October 1942. It was given RAAF Serial No A58-51 and was reassembled by 1 Aircraft Depot on 27 October 1942. It was assigned to 54 Squadron RAF on 14 November 1942. It was initially coded as "E" and later became "DL-E".

REFERENCES

"Spitfire at Crocodile Creek" by Storyteller Media
Recovery of Spitfire A58-51

"Spitfire Mark Vc Serial Number A58-1 Code E / DL-E"
by Pacific Wrecks

54 Squadron RAF Unit History June 1942 - August 1945 - NAA File

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Ian Heath for his assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products