The RAAF has confirmed the fate of another of its missing WWII bombers after wreckage was found in mountain forests in Papua New Guinea.
The wreckage was located in the rugged Baining Mountains of East New Britain.
The crew of the twin-engine Beaufort bomber (serial number A9-211) were identified as flight sergeants John Eardley Kenny (pilot), Arthur John Davies (navigator), and radio operators/gunners Thomas Burrowes and Murray Fairbairn.
Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh says the “discovery is significant and offers the chance to provide closure to families who have long wondered about the final resting place of loved ones”.
“It is a measure of who we are as a nation that we continue to strive to find, recover and identify our missing service personnel,” he says.
Support was provided by PNG authorities particularly their National Museum and Art Gallery.
RAAF MISSION
On December 14, 1943, the Beaufort, from RAAF 100 Squadron, was on a night mission to Rabaul when it reportedly ran into bad weather and never returned to base, the Defence Department says.
Post-war searches proved unsuccessful and eventually the crew were declared presumed killed in action.
Then in 2021, a Defence Department statement says, images of aircraft wreckage were sent to the RAAF’s Historical Unrecovered War Casualties unit.
Detailed research by the unit positively confirmed the images, including that of the aircraft’s control yoke, as that of a Beaufort aircraft.
Further research narrowed the possible identity to one of three Beauforts believed lost in New Britain around that time.
In October, a RAAF investigation team headed to the site, including specialists and a field officer from the National Museum and Art Gallery of PNG and supported by a local expedition company and villages.
On site, the team identified the wreckage as that of Beaufort A9-211 from manufacturer’s plates that they found.
“The wreckage was dispersed over more than 200 square metres in thick vegetation and on a steep slope near the top of a mountain range,” team leader and unit director Group Captain Grant Kelly says.
“Discovering the manufacturer’s plates enabled us to confirm which aircraft it was and, more importantly, identify the crew members who had been on board.”
Other artefacts found on site included aircraft controls and instrumentation, weapon parts and ammunition, and parts of parachute harnesses.
The department says all accessible areas of the site were searched for human remains and personal items with some fragmented material recovered for further analysis.
No further activity will occur at the site, the department says.
Director-General of History and Heritage Air Force, Air Commodore Robert Lawson, says “identification of this aircraft is significant and offers an opportunity to provide closure to families”.
The families of the crew have been notified with talks under way for commemorative activities.
In 10 years, the RAAF identified seven missing aircraft, recovered the remains of two crew members and accounted for another 41 deemed missing in action during World War II.
The search continues for more than 3140 missing crew with no known grave, involving over 1000 aircraft from World War II and the Korean War.
