WITHOUT TRACE Squadron Leader Wilbur Wackett, RAAF
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HERITAGE SERIES LOST WITHOUT TRACE Squadron Leader Wilbur Wackett, RAAF A Story of Bravery and Tragedy in the Pacific War Leon Kane-Maguire winner of the 2010 raaf heritage award © Commonwealth of Australia 2011 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. Disclaimer The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defence, the Royal Australian Air Force or the Government of Australia, or of any other authority referred to in the text. The Commonwealth of Australia will not be legally responsible in contract, tort or otherwise, for any statements made in this document. Release This document is approved for public release. Portions of this document may be quoted or reproduced without permission, provided a standard source credit is included. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Kane-McGuire, Leon. Title: Lost without trace : Squadron Leader Wilbur Wackett, RAAF / Leon Kane-McGuire. ISBN: 9781920800642 (pbk.) Subjects: Wackett, William Lawrence 1921-1944. Australia. Royal Australian Air Force--Officers--Biography. Australia. Royal Australian Air Force. Squadron, 31--History. World War, 1939-1945--Missing in action--Australia--Biography. World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, Australian--Biography. Other Authors/Contributors: Australia. Royal Australian Air Force. Air Power Development Centre. Dewey Number: 940.544994 Front cover image: A pilot of No 30 Squadron (FLTLT E.M. Ball) at the controls of his RAAF Beaufighter over New Guinea, September 1943. (AWM OG0087) Back cover image: Beaufighter crosses the coast to patrol the Bismarck Sea, 1943. (AWM 141998) Published and distributed by: Air Power Development Centre TCC-3, Department of Defence Telephone: + 61 2 6266 1355 PO Box 7935 Facsimile: + 61 2 6266 1041 CANBERRA BC ACT 2610 Email: [email protected] AUSTRALIA Website: www.airforce.gov.au/airpower In memory of all Australian aircrew who have no known grave and to those who waited in vain for their return. Abbreviations and Acronyms AFC Air Force Cross AFC Australian Flying Corps AIF Australian Imperial Force ANA Australian National Airways AOC Air Officer Commanding CAC Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CO Commanding Officer DFC Distinguished Flying Cross EATS Empire Air Training Scheme HQ Headquarters MBE Member of the Order of the British Empire OBE Officer of the Order of the British Empire OC Officer Commanding RAAF Royal Australian Air Force SRD Services Reconnaissance Department UK United Kingdom USAAF United States Army Air Forces Imperial/Metric Conversion Table 1 inch (in) 25.4 millimetres (mm) 1 foot (ft) 30.48 centimetres (cm) 1 yard (yd) 0.914 metres (m) 1 nautical mile (nm) 1852 metres (m) 1 pound (lb) .454 kilograms (kg) 1 ton 1.02 tonne (t) 1 mile per hour (mph) 1.61 kilometres per hour (km/h) 1 knot (kt) 1.852 kilometres per hour (km/h) iv Contents Abbreviations and Acronyms.......................................iv Imperial/Metric Conversion Table ..................................iv Acknowledgements ...............................................vii Editor’s Note .....................................................ix Chapter 1 Introduction . 1 Chapter 2 Born to Fly . 5 Chapter 3 Moths and Demons . 17 Chapter 4 Protecting Our Sea Lanes . 29 Chapter 5 Return to Townsville . 49 Chapter 6 Enter the Kittyhawk . 65 Chapter 7 To New Guinea in Kittyhawks . 79 Chapter 8 An Epic Journey . 93 Chapter 9 Vale Port Moresby . 103 Chapter 10 Return to Australia . 113 v Chapter 11 A New Warhorse – The Bristol Beaufighter . 125 Chapter 12 No 31 Squadron – Coomalie Creek . 137 Chapter 13 Back on Operations . 151 Chapter 14 Lost Without Trace . 171 Chapter 15 The Search for Survivors . .187 Chapter 16 An Enduring Mystery . 205 Chapter 17 Epilogue . 217 Appendices . 227 Bibliography . 229 vi Acknowledgements In writing this book on the life and service of Wilbur Wackett, I owe a great debt of gratitude to many people. In particular I wish to thank Wilbur’s sister, Arlette, and her husband Barton Perkins, who have generously given me access to their extensive family files, letters and photographs and welcomed me into their home. Their still vivid personal recollections of Wilbur have been invaluable. Other members of their family, daughter Dorothee and her husband Philip Crowther, and son Roger Perkins have also been most helpful in their contribution to the Epilogue. A very special thanks is also extended to Julie Parsons, the daughter of Wilbur’s wife Peggie (from her second postwar marriage), who had earlier assisted me when researching the wartime role of her father for the book Desert Scorpions (the history of No 459 Squadron RAAF). She kindly gave me access to numerous documents, including letters and the personal diary that Wilbur had kept during the last weeks of his life. Also very rewarding has been tracing surviving members of the squadrons in which Wilbur served. They have provided invaluable insights into life in these units and of their often close interactions with Wilbur. They have all invariably given most generously of their time and greeted with remarkable patience my intrusion into their lives. I feel very honoured to have made their association. I am also grateful to Perry Morey for his recollections of his father, Constable Ted Morey, who played such a significant role in the search for Wilbur and his navigator. To all of these helpers, my heartfelt thanks for their first-hand information which has helped to ‘put flesh onto the bare bones’ of the narrative. Their individual contributions are acknowledged in the text footnotes and in the bibliography section at the end of the book. I should also like to thank the staff who have assisted me in my search of official squadron files and photographic collections at the Australian War Memorial and the National Archives of Australia. A particular thanks is extended to Monica Walsh who was of tremendous help in searching the extensive files and photograph collection held at the RAAF Museum, Point vii Cook. I am also grateful to Mark Lax who kindly read a draft of the book and gave most useful comments and feedback. Finally, a very special thanks to my wife, Barbara, who also proofread the draft and has over the years of the endeavour continued to give her loving support and encouragement. For me personally, the writing of this book has been an absorbing and rewarding journey of discovery. I hope that readers will also find it so—a tribute to the memory of the many brave Australian aircrew who have no known grave. viii Editor’s Note Given the period setting of this book, imperial rather than metric standards have been used to retain the historic sequence. Every effort has been made to ensure the correct spelling of people’s names and placenames; however, given the time period since these events took place, it has not been possible to double-check every name mentioned herein. Further compounding the problem is the fact that some names are misspelt in official records of the period, such as Unit History Sheets. In addition, there are often several spelling variants for placenames, particularly those in Papua New Guinea. In citing reference material, the author has used the terms airstrip, airfield, aerodrome and airport interchangeably, which was common usage prior to and during World War II. ix x Chapter 1 Introduction This is the story of Wilbur Wackett, one of the tens of thousands of young Australians who volunteered for aircrew service with the RAAF during World War II. He was the son of Sir Lawrence Wackett, a much decorated pilot from World War I and a leading pioneer in the development of the Australian aviation industry. Not surprisingly, at a young age Wilbur became fascinated with aircraft and aviation. As war clouds were gathering over Europe and the Pacific, Wilbur had applied in March 1939 for a cadetship with the Royal Australian Air Force. He was called up on 4 September 1939, the day after Britain and Australia declared war on Nazi Germany. Five years later, he would tragically become one of the over 9000 Australian aircrew who paid the supreme sacrifice in the defence of their country.1 Following pilot training on antiquated Gipsy Moths and Hawker Demons, Wilbur was posted in March 1940 to No 2 Squadron at Laverton, Victoria. He would spend the first 10 months of his operational service flying twin-engined Avro Anson and later Lockheed Hudson bombers on long oversea patrols protecting coastal shipping and troop convoys as well as searching for elusive German surface raiders. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Wilbur left Victoria for tropical Queensland with a posting to No 24 Squadron in Townsville. There he became familiar with the Wirraway aircraft, produced by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation headed by his father, and now pressed into service as a stopgap fighter. However, his time with them would be short. The squadron was decimated in January 1942 in the heroic but doomed defence of Rabaul, New Britain. In the meantime, romance had blossomed for Wilbur when he became engaged to Peggie Stephenson. Within a few weeks he was further overjoyed to be posted, as a foundation member, to No 75 Squadron which was formed 1 John Herington, Australia in the War of 1939–1945 – Series 3 (Air) – Volume IV – Air Power Over Europe, 1944–1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963, p. 510. 1 Lost Without Trace at Townsville in the grim days of early March 1942. It was the first RAAF unit in Australia to be equipped with a modern fighter, the Curtiss Kittyhawk. After only a week’s training with their new warhorse, the young pilots flew to Port Moresby, New Guinea2 to provide the embattled garrison with much needed air support against repeated Japanese air raids and threatened invasion.