12 August 1940 - Crash of a Lockheed Hudson into the sea of Jumpin Pin between North & South Stradbroke Islands

CRASH OF A LOCKHEED HUDSON
INTO THE SEA OFF JUMPIN PIN
BETWEEN NORTH & SOUTH STRADBROKE ISLANDS
ON 12 AUGUST 1940

hudson01.jpg (12841 bytes)
Lockheed Hudson

RAAF Lockheed Hudson A16-27 of 23 Squadron RAAF based at Archerfield airfield in Brisbane, failed to return from a navigational exercise at sea on 12 August 1940. Its wireless faded out 20 minutes after takeoff, and nothing more was heard.

Two Hudsons took off at 0700 hours the next morning to search for the missing aircraft. They found an oil slick at 1500 hours, 18 miles east of Jumpin Pin between North and South Stradbroke Islands. No wreckage was found.

Those killed in this tragic crash were as follows:-

Walter Keith Beeston (2nd pilot)	Pilot Officer	24180
Dudley Howard Downs	Sergeant	2464
Mervyn Stephen Matthews (pilot)	Flying Officer	382
Hamilton James O'Gorman	Sergeant	2545
George Leslie Savage	Leading Aircraftman	3746
Francis John Starr	Aircraftman Class 1	5085

Squadron Leader Rundle also searched for this wreckage. His records indicate that it was lost at 27.27 Latitude and 153.47 Longitude. He heard of persistent rumours that the wreckage of this aircraft had been located in the sea at Southport. The rumours were never substantiated.

This Hudson had been delivered to the RAAF in February 1940.

REFERENCE BOOK

"Aircraft of the RAAF 1921- 71"
By Geoffrey Pentland & Peter Malone

SOURCE:- Aircraft Crash Sites - Australia

Crash: No. 97

Position: 27.27 - 153.47

Department of Aviation Chart No: 3340

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