Broome Aftermath

Following their successful raid on Broome, the remaining 8 Japanese Zero’s, well pleased with the morning’s pickings headed up the WA coast to their base onTimor. They were not expecting any more action and were therefore surprised to intercept a Royal Dutch East Indies Airlines DC-3.


Mitsubishi A6M Zero's (replicas) in formation.
Photo courtesy of Philip Makanna from his
book 'Ghosts'.

The aircraft, piloted by the celebrated Ivan Smirnoff, had left Java with 11 persons on board bound for Broome. Just before he left Java, Smirnoff was handed a small package wrapped in brown paper, he never opened it and had no idea what it contained.

The Japanese wasted no time & quickly shot the DC-3 down. With his aircraft on fire, Smirnoff managed a brilliant crash-landing on the beach at Carnot Bay just north of Broome. The Zero’s continued straffing the crashed aircraft and wounded some of the passengers. During the 5 days on the beach 4 people died of their wounds including a mother and her 18 month old baby. To add to this, the day after the crash they were bombed by a large Japanese flying boat returning from a reconnaisance of Broome.

Initially, the flying boat dropped biscuits, but upon intercepting the downed aircrafts distress signals, and assuming that Australian fighters would soon be on the scene, they promptly dropped bombs as well.

Following their harrowing ordeal, Smirnoff was questioned by the authorities about ‘the Package’. More worried about protecting his passengers than the‘package’, he was surprised to learn that it contained a vast fortune in diamonds. They had been retrieved from Amsterdam to avoid being taken by the invading Germans and were to be held by the Commonwealth Bank in Australia for safekeeping. The diamonds had a value of $300,000, which translates to about $20,000,000 today.

In the ensuing weeks after the crash, a local fisherman noticed the aircraft and searched the wreck site, in doing so he found a small package, he said that he only found a few of the stones! Following long drawn out court cases, only a small portion of the diamonds were ever recovered. Stories abound as to where they may have ended up, from Aboriginies to fishermen and locals in Broome.

It would seem that a vast fortune in diamonds is still unaccounted for! Wreckage from Smirnoff’s DC-3 still lies entombed in the mud at Carnot Bay.


The Prospero crew and members of WAMM at
the Carnot Bay site. Photo by WA Maritime Museum.

The B24 Liberator crash

An American Consolidated LB30 Liberator was shot down just after take-off during the raid, killing 33 personnel aboard. This aircraft is thought to have crashed into the sea about 10 kms off Cable Beach. There were no eye witnesses to the actual crash and judging by the direction the wind was blowing on the day (Japanese aerial photo) it is thought that Roebuck Bay may be the site. To this day people have wondered why this many ‘able-bodied’ servicemen did not survive the crash, considering the aircraft went in at a shallow angle. It has been found that these servicemen were all wounded aircrew on their way to Perth and other hospitals in Australia. Only one man (Donoho) survived the crash, reaching shore 24 hours later. There are reports of a second survivor who died on the beach, but there is no proof of this statement. It appears to have originated from a Chicago Herald newspaper article.


Consolidated B24 liberator. Right: My (digital) interpretation of what the LB30 may have
ooked like not long after the crash

The Lost Zeros

The only allied ‘kill’ that morning was a Zero fighter, shot down by
a Dutch airman, Flt Lt ‘Gus’ Winckel, (below right) who grabbed a
machine gun from his aircraft as the attack began.

Resting the heavy calibre aircraft machine gun on his arm, he
hit a Zero piloted by Warrant Officer Osamu Kudo. (below left) . The
Zero caught fire, trailed smoke and vanished into the history books.
Kudo never returned to his base in Timor and nobody actually saw
his machine crash, but stories abound as to where he may have gone
down.
The wreckage and his remains could be in the sand dunes or ocean
anywhere between Broome and the top of Western Australia.
This same Zero was responsible for shooting down the LB30
liberator.

A second Zero crashed into the sea off a small island near Roti
Island on its way back to base on Timor. Following a two hour
swim to shore, the pilot was rescued and returned to his
squadron. This machine ran out of fuel no doubt due to to the
extra half hour over Broome, plus it was suffering from battle
damage.

No search has ever been mounted for the wreckage of the LB30,
the remains of Kudo's Zero, or the Zero of Roti Island.

W/O Osamu Kudo and Flt Lt Gus Winckel Click pilots to see larger view s

 

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