Charters Towers airfield

The two sealed cross-runways at Charters Towers were completed in a record six weeks by the Australian Civil Constructional Corps. They worked day and night to achieve this record.

The first A24 of the 3rd Bomb Group used the airfield on 25 March 1942. It was flown by Major "Big Jim" Davies of the 8th Squadron.

The airfield was on the edge of Charters Towers on a ridge that had been the suburb of Corinda when Charters Towers had been a booming gold town. The airfield adjoined Mount Carmel College.

There was a bore sight range for calibrating the accuracy of the guns in the aircraft based there. The bore sight range was also used for small arms training.

A combat crew in front of B-25 "El Aguila" (Spanish for Eagle) of the
13th Squadron of the 3rd Bomb Group in early 1942 at Charters Towers
before the aircraft were converted to low-level attack planes. The tall
fellow on the right end of the picture. is Col. James Hubert Davies.

Boston bomber of 22 Squadron RAAF at Charters Towers in September
1942 Jack McMasters (pilot) standing in front of the aircraft and
Jim Larkin (wireless operator/navigator) on top of the aircraft

Boston bomber of 22 Squadron RAAF at Charters Towers in September 1942 Jack
Woodward (navigator) and Jack McMasters (pilot) standing in front of the aircraft

All of the following photographs are from the collection of Jack Heyn,
of Group Photo Section, 3rd Bomb Group (L) (aka 3rd Attack Group)

B-25's waiting to take off from Charters
Towers on a bombing mission
(Photo: Jack Heyn)

	A combat crew in front of B-25 "El Aguila" (Spanish for Eagle) of the 13th Squadron of the 3rd Bomb Group in early 1942 at Charters Towers before the aircraft were converted to low-level attack planes. The tall fellow on the right end of the picture. is Col. James H. Davies. He was one of the pilots evacuated from the Philippines to be assigned to the 3rd bomb Group in March of '42. He became the Gp. Commander, and on April ll, '42 led 10 of the B-25s and 39 crew member to Darwin. From there with the aid of auxiliary bomb-bay tanks flew non-stop to Del Monte on Mindanoa in the Philippines. They operated out of obscure fields attacking shipping and installations in the Davao, Mindanoa area. After 4 days the Japs discovered where they were coming from, and Col. Davies led them back to Charters Towers via Darwin losing no planes or crew member. Since several of the pilots were evacuees from the Philippines, who had lost their planes on the ground early on, it was sort of pay-back time for them.
	A combat crew in front of B-25 "Baby Blitz" of the 13th Squadron of the 3rd Bomb Group in early 1942 at Charters Towers before the aircraft were converted to low-level attack planes. "Baby Blitz" was later burned up in a Japanese air raid on Port Moresby.
	A combat crew in front of B-25 "Fair Dinkum" of the 13th Squadron of the 3rd Bomb Group. "Fair Dinkum was later burned up in the same Japanese air raid on Port Moresby as "Baby Blitz" above.
	A combat crew in front of B-25D Mitchell, "Eight Ball Esquire", of the 13th Bomb Squadron of the 3rd Bomb Group at Charters Towers on 30 September 1942. "Eight Ball Esquire" later ditched in the Coral Sea, but the crew got back safely. In fact one of the gunners was a tent mate of Jack Hehn.
	"Home away from Home" at Charters Towers for the 3rd Bomb Group. It was their first experience of overseas billeting in war time. Was a bit primitive and served mostly as just a place to get their sack-time and very little else. As you will see later, things did improve.
	More of the luxuries of life at Charters Towers
	Charters Towers air strip
	13th Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group, dispersal area at Charters Towers

I'd like to thank Leroy Simpson, Jack Heyn and Bill Swain for their assistance with this web page.

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