FORCE LANDING OF A BEAUFIGHTER
AT COOMALIE CREEK
ON 21 MAY 1943

Bill McKinnon of 31 Squadron RAAF based at Coomalie Creek airfield in the Northern Territory took off on a test flight in Beaufighter A19-86 on 21 May 1943. The aircraft lost one engine and McKinnon managed made a successful single engine landing at CCoomalie Creek airfield. The cause of the engine failure was a sleeve that had seized, possibly due to a broken spark plug. This broke the crank on the sleeve operating gear.

REFERENCE BOOKS

"Coomalie Charlie's Commandos - 31 Squadron RAAF" (page 79)
"Beaufighters at Darwin 1942-43"
by Kenneth Neal McDonald, DFC

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 24 October 1999

This page last updated 21 February 2020