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I strongly suspect the aircraft in the google photo is the B-25 recovered by Monty Armstrong and Charles Darby when recovering wrecks for Dave Tallichet at Tadji, and placed on display at the Aitape High School in 1974, and not abandoned.
It is rare and historic B25C from the 345 “Bats Out of Hell” Bomb Group (and 9th B25C model built)
link and text below from Justin Taylins pacificwrecks website.
While the airstrip might be abandoned, the aircraft is not, and for those who consider this wreck is there for the taking:
http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/png_aitape.html
Ataipe High School
Since the 1974 recoveries at Tadji, one wreck this B-25 was selected for display at the school as a WWII Memorial for the town, and represents one of the last complete American wrecks in the Aitape area. It is a well known ‘landmark’ of the school and town. Over the decades, outsiders have asked the school to purchase the wreck and remove it, to which they have declined.
It is entirely appropriate that an aircraft display be retained in the battlegrounds as part of the local heritage, what those concerned about its condition and safety, should be considering, instead of “how to liberate it” or “get it airworthy”, is donating funds to get it placed undercover and preserved.
Your lunch money would probably pay a weeks wages of a labourer, and go along way to getting this aircraft better preserved?, in fact this might be an affordable and realistic project for WIX to get behind??
http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-25/41-12442.html
(see other pics of the a/c on the link above)
Aircraft History
This bomber was the ninth B-25C produced by North American Aircraft. It was originally intended for the Netherlands East Indies Air Force (NEIAF) but was appropriated by the USAAF and assigned to the 3rd BG, 13th BS in Melbourne in early April, 1942 and nicknamed “Feather Merchant”.This aircraft participated in the Royce Mission to the Philippines in April, 1942 and was also flown by Criswell.
Gus Breymann adds:
“My uncle, Lt. Gustave M. Heiss, and his co-pilot, Lt. Ed Townsend, flew B-25 41-12442 on the Royce Mission to the Philippines in April, 1942.”In the 13th BS it was nicknamed “Irene”. On May 25, 1942 with Talley piloting it flew on a bombing mission against Lae. Attacked by Zeros 5 of 8 shot down. On the return flight, it force landed in kunai grass field near Port Moresby from damaged suffered over the target. Afterwards, it was transferred to the 90th BS.
Next, it was transferred to the 345th BG, 499th BS on November 30, 1943. Regular crew chief was Ridgeway. Nicknamed “Miss Priority” painted below the cockpit on the right side, and flew combat as a strafer until October 20, 1944.
Taken out of combat service and turned into a “Fat Cat”, supply and transport plane around February 1944 with its armament removed, but still in olive drab paint. Later, it was stripped to natural aluminum finish by July 1944. Then was declared war weary, and transferred to a service squadron around October 1944. At the end of the war, it was abandoned at Tadji Airfield, with its tail removed.
Recovery & Display
It remain in a American aircraft boneyard at Tadji with only its tail missing. Recovered by Charles Darby from Tadji in 1974, and as part of the Yesterday’s Air Force export agreement, it was set up as a memorial at Aitape High School in 1974. Charles Darby moved the aircraft, with assistance from Robert Parer who provided the trailer to move the plane to its new location.Tail Section From Another Aircraft
As the tail section was missing from “Feather Merchant”, the tail from another aircraft B-25D “Tin Liz” 41-30074, shot down off Dagua, was recovered and attached to the aircraft for display purposes.Charles Darby Adds:
“Strange that I went to all the trouble of getting fin and rudder assemblies from a shot-down B-25D “Tin Liz” 41-30074 at Dagua, then found the original assemblies buried in sand on the last day of the work, long after we had taken the bomber down to the school.”
Regards
Mark Pilkington
Colour photo of the CA-15 – no probs – smiles
These are all a 1/6 flying scale model built by Adrian Hopward in Geelong and now on display at the Moorabbin Museum.
Unfortunately the real CA-15 is poorly recorded in photo or film, and most of the drawings were unfortunately thrown out at CAC accidently in the 1980’s according to CAC guru Keith Meggs.
(I still havent nailed which book has the shot of the CA-15 from the Lincoln Turret smiles) – now I have, page 169 of the Stewart Wilson book
Regards
Mark Pilkington
howz about stow maries aerodrome in essex, the sole remaining and largely intact genuine 1stww airfield anywhere in the UK!
Another one is Hainault farm, similiar to the above site, but now in use by light industry!!
tim
:p
This one interested me, so off to “Google”, and all shall be revealed:
from http://www.angliamfc.org.uk/history.htm
Biggin Hill, Tangmere, and Duxford, became familiar names to many during World War One, but how many would remember Stow Maries, Essex? Home to men of the newly-blooded Royal Flying Corps (RFC)–the field was known by the locals as Stow St. Mary, after the nearby parish church of St. Mary and St. Margaret. The name ‘Maries’ derived from a marshy area of the parish alongside the River Crouch.
The aerodrome came into being in late 1914 when land was requisitioned from the Turner family at Edwins Hall and the Jones’ farm at Old Whitmans. Permanent brick structures began to take shape the following year. Although all the buildings were not completed until December 1918, by the time the first flying unit arrived in 1916 living conditions were good with airmen accommodated in barrack blocks on the western edge of the main site and catering facilities provided by a large canteen.
A mess building for officers was situated on the very edge of the flying field. Other structures included motor transport sheds, fuel stores, blacksmith’s shop, generator building and water tower. Married airmen had to find local lodgings for their families — the provision of married quarters did not come into being until the 1930s Expansion Scheme.
The only unit to occupy Stow (as it was usually called) was 37 Squadron RFC, which had formed in early September 1916 at the experimental establishment of Orfordness, Suffolk, flying BE.2s and BE.12s. The squadron headquarters was established at The Grange, Woodham Mortimer, and by September 15, its flights were dispatched to three Essex aerodromes. Their job was to combat the threat from German airships and aircraft as they attempted to reach targets in East Anglia and as far inland as West London. Upon receipt of orders, ‘A’ Flight moved to Rochford, ‘B’ Flight to Stow Maries and ‘C’ Flight to Goldhanger where it replaced the Royal Naval Air Service, then in the process of moving out………………..
After closing down in 1919, it is surprising to many that the aerodrome was not re-opened to serve during World War Two – with its facilities still in place it could have fulfilled a useful role quite readily. Air Ministry surveyors inspected Stow early on in 1939, but the powers-that-be decided to update another World War One aerodrome, Rochford, some 12 miles to the southeast.
Stow stayed under the plough – buildings on the technical site were used to house farm workers and the remaining structures provided storage and maintenance facilities for farm implements.
No attempt was made to camouflage the site or obstruct the old landing areas, consequently it still resembled an active station from the air. This most likely contributed to it receiving its share of bombs and missiles during World War Two.
The most notable of these occurred on April 20, 1941 when a pair of parachute mines dropped near to Flambirds Farm. They caused extensive damage to five of the technical site buildings lived in by farm workers and partially destroyed the northern aeroplane hangar. The farm workers were rehoused and the hangars finally taken down after the war, the timber being sold off locally.
The only known aircraft arrival at Stow during World War Two was on September 7, 1940, when P/O Dennis Crowley-Milling of 242 Squadron force-landed his Hurricane P3715 ‘LE-M’ on the field after sustaining a damaged radiator in combat. The aircraft’s undercarriage was damaged and it was dismantled for recovery by road……..
So what remains at Stow Maries from the days of World War One? Quite simply it provides the most complete example of a permanent aerodrome of that period. Its buildings have, almost miraculously, survived the vagaries of the English climate although the interiors of some barrack block buildings have suffered from their proximity to farm animals and vandals have left their mark in the Officers’ Mess washrooms. Thankfully, because the adjacent lounge area is now being used regularly by the aerodrome resident as a garage, the period fireplace built from Dutch bricks remains intact.
The ‘other ranks’ canteen is now a corn batching and storage area, so its future seems assured, whilst in the very centre of the technical site some buildings are inaccessible due to the ever-encroaching undergrowth. The water tower also still stands proudly erect, surveying all around it.
The Senior NCO’s quarters became a form of air museum in the late 1960s, mainly concerned with wreckology, as is evident from the remains of a V2 rocket engine venturi still lying in the grass nearby. Later it became the outdoor activity base for the local Scout group but since this came to an end the building remains empty at the edge of the field.
How much longer the aerodrome will remain as a memorial to the gallant fliers of the embryo Royal Air Force cannot be determined. For now at least Stow Maries remains a place for which time itself has stood still.
Its also on wiki > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stow_Maries
and its own webpage http://www.essex-family-history.co.uk/stowaf.htm
and certainly worthy of National Heritage listing in the UK and even world heritage listing?
Apparantly English Heritage investigated and reported the site in 1998 for the NHR?
Regards
Mark Pilkington
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