CRASH OF A B-26 MARAUDER
4 MILES SOUTH OR SOUTH WEST OF ARCHERFIELD AIRFIELD,
BRISBANE, QLD ON 5 JUNE 1942

B-26 Marauder #40-1514 of the 22nd Bomb Group, crashed after engine failure four miles south or south west of Archerfield Airfield on 5 June 1942 killing all those on board.

Initially I determined the most likely crew members killed as follows by matching those who died on 5 June 1942 and were buried in the Ipswich US Military Cemetery records:-

These crew names were confirmed when Yvonne Kinkaid located this crash report for this incident for me (see below). Unfortunately it does not confirm the aircraft type or serial number.

Captain Richard M. Cone

Capt E.N. Loeb was the Applicant for all of the above burials. St Sgt  F.O. Thorne was the undertaker for all of the above Funerals. May Dixon was shown as the Officiating Clergy for all of the above burials except Capt. Patrick William McIntyre.

Another version of the casualty list shows some additional information:-

Captain McIntyre, Patrick W. O-21495 Pilot, Air Corps, HQ 19th Bomber Group Heavy, Fatal.
Second Lieutenant Muckley, Dwight S, Jr., O-398662, Air Corps, 34 Pursuit Squadron?, Fatal.
First Lieutenant Phipps, Tilden. E. Jr., O-355533, Medical Corps, Fatal.
Captain Cone, Richard M., O-250706, 42nd Chemical Laboratory Company, Fatal.
Lysakoski, Henry W., Civilian, Glen Martin Aircraft Company, Fatal.
Marschmer, Edward, Civilian, Glen Martin Aircraft Company, Fatal.
Second Lieutenant Parker, James W., O-385535, Chemical Warfare Service, survived initial crash but subsequently died of wounds on 8 June 1942.

Captain McIntyre, Captain Cone and Mr Lysakoski were re-buried at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii.

A First Lieutenant Phipps, Tilden. H. Jr. was buried at the Memorial Cemetery, Oklahoma. Note that although the middle initial is different the date of death is the same - 5 June 1942. Also the Phipps buried at Ipswich US Military Cemetery was a 'H'. It is assumed that there was a mix-up regarding the middle name and that this is the same Phipps that was in the crash on 5 June 1942. These records show him as 'Medical Corps' which is interesting as other records show him as being Air Corps.

The Arlington National Cemetery Web site gives the following information:-

"On May 5, 1942, Muckley, three officers and two civilians were killed "in an airplane accident somewhere in the Far Eastern theater" according to his report of death. The author found that he was killed in a plane crash in Australia, but was unable to determine the crash location. He was initially buried in the American section of Ipswich Cemetery, Brisbane, Australia (Section 1, Block 3, Letter A) on May 9, 1942. Muckley was subsequently reburied in section 12, grave 1776 in Arlington National Cemetery. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on February 7, 1942."

It is interesting to note that the above Arlington National Cemetery web site information gives Muckley's date of death as 5 May 1942 and not 5 June 1942 and his burial date as 9 May 1942. The official document below clearly shows Muckley's date of death as 5 June 1942. The Ipswich City Council Cemetery Records show them dying on 5 June 42. Another possibility for the date mix-up could be that they were killed in May and buried at the Lutwyche Military Cemetery in Brisbane and then reburied at Ipswich US Military Cemetery in June. For example Captain Baron Brodine was killed in a crash at Dinmore on 20 February 1942, and was buried at Lutwyche on 21 February but was then removed from Lutwyche and reburied at Ipswich US Military Cemetery on 25 June 1942. The Americans only used Lutwyche Cemetery for a short while until the Ipswich US Military Cemetery was available. Another possibility with the difference in the dates could be the confusion caused by the different way Americans and Australians show calendar dates. For example Australians would show 5 June 1942 as 5/6/42 whereas Americans would show 5 June 1942 as 6/5/42.

2nd Lt Dwight Muckley ASN #O-398662 was a member of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 35th Pursuit Group on the USS Republic with the second echelon of 21st and 34th Pursuit pilots who ended up in Brisbane on 22 December 1941. Originally he was in the 20th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional). He left Amberley on the 29 January 1942. Due to the losses both in transit and on arrival, the unit was absorbed by the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) to make up for their own losses. He became a highly respected member of the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) in Java. He was awarded one of the seven Distinguish Flying Cross’s to be issued to that Unit in that short and violent campaign. Ironically he was again evacuated back from the war zone to Australia on the 3 March 1942 by 7th /19th Bomb Group B-17E Flying Fortress via Broome/Pearce.

Muckley's Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded posthumously to recognise an incident where Second Lieutenant Muckley and his wingman had attacked a flight of eight Japanese fighters on 7 February 1942 over Bali, Dutch East Indies. Muckley became separated from his wingman during the dogfight. Muckley subsequently noticed that his wingman was being attacked by the Japanese, so he broke off his attack on the Japanese formation and returned to defend his wingman. Muckley's aircraft was heavily damaged in the dogfight, but he was able to land safely.

Second Lieutenant Muckley was initially buried in the American section of Ipswich US Military Cemetery, Ipswich, Australia (Section 1, Block 3, Letter A) on 9 June 1942. Muckley was subsequently reburied in Section 12, Grave 1776 in Arlington National Cemetery. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on 7 February 1942. Camp Muckley, a US Military Camp near Archerfield Airfield in Brisbane was named after Second Lieutenant Dwight S. Muckley, Jr.

Lieutenant Patrick McIntyre has previously been an Operations Officer with the 19th Bomb Group as shown in their unit history as follows:-

"Lt. Patrick McIntyre was Operations Officer after Major Gibbs until the 19th Group arrived in the Philippines. He continued as Asst. Operations Officer under Capt. "Mike" Walsh. Lt. McIntyre was transferred to Group Headquarters from the 32nd Squadron which was then part of the 19th Group."

McIntyre had arrived at Batchelor Airfield in the Northern Territory on a flight from Malang, in Java on 20 December 1941 on B-17 Flying Fortress #40-2062 piloted by James Connally. McIntyre Field (Tocumwal Airfield) was named after Captain Patrick W. McIntyre. Refer the following replica of General Order No 19:-

The Pilot of the aircraft was Lt. Patrick W. McIntyre (0-21495) and his co-pilot was 2nd Lt Dwight Sumner Muckley Jnr. (0- 398662). Also on board was a doctor and two representatives from Glenn Martin aviation. There was also two army chemical warfare staff. One of these two personnel apparently lived for a while and died the next day.

Captain Richard Morton Cone, 0250706, of NY, USA was from the 42nd Chemical Laboratory Company (42nd CML Lab Co.). In December 1942, the 42nd Chemical Laboratory Co. was based at Clayfield in Brisbane under the command of Captain H.W. Hillis. Captain Cone and 2nd Lt. Parker were carrying out experiments to determine whether incendiary bombs could be improvised from training bombs, using gasoline thickened with crude rubber as a filling.

Why are there no records of this accident. Was it due to poor record keeping in that early part of the war or was it a cover-up, perhaps something to do with the Chemical Warfare officers on board. Why did it take 4 days for them to be buried at the Ipswich US Military Cemetery? Did this accident happen in the Brisbane area or further afield?

Mike Thomason of the Pueblo Community College, Pueblo, Colorado contacted me on 18 January 2003 as follows:-

"I'm still seeking information re a May 5, 1942 crash "somewhere in the Pacific theater" of a Pueblo pilot. LT Dwight S. Muckley, Jr. was with the 34th Pursuit Squadron, attached to the 24th Pursuit Group, when he and (according to a Pueblo newspaper report) "three officers and two civilians" died in a plane crash. My guess is that the crash was in northern Australia; he was temporarily buried in Ipswich Cemetery (under contract with the US govt.) and later reburied in Arlington National Cemetery. "

"The Australian Min. of Defense, National Archives, and National Library have no information, and any assistance or direction you could provide would be greatly appreciated."

I was contacted by Liam Baker on 2 July 2021. Whilst Liam could not confirm the specific aircraft (despite the fact that 'someone' must have seen a likely Martin B-26 Marauder crash?), he could confirm the crash occurred "4 miles south of Archerfield" - this detail comes from the 2 American Foreign Service reports issued for the deaths of Edward August Marscher & Henry William Lysakoski (see below). Of real interest is that Henry Lysakoski also has a Headstone Application for Military Veterans form (Liam could not locate one for Edward Marschner). In Lysakoski's 1942 American Foreign Service report on his death, it denotes his occupation as "mechanic" with the Glenn L. Martin Co. However, when the Headstone Application was issued, the form indicates he was "attached to air force" as a flight engineer. Equally as interesting is the application date on the form - signed in 1956, well after the exhumations were completed at the USAF cemetery. On the top of the form in green pencil, "Permanent Overseas Burial" is written - despite records showing his remains were reinterred in Honolulu at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, which Liam thought was pretty bizarre for someone who was supposedly just a "civilian"?

American Foreign Service report on the Death of
 an American Citizen for Edward August Marschmer.

American Foreign Service report on the Death of
 an American Citizen for Henry William Lysakoski.

Application for Headstone or Marker for Henry William Lysakoski

I was initially unaware of the aircraft type involved in this accident, but Major Michael Leichsenring suggested the possibility that the bomber may have been a B-26 Marauder which had a standard crew of 7 which matches the number of fatalities in this tragic accident. 

Then Daniel Leahy contacted me on 29 December 2017 and advised that William H. Bartsch's book, 'Every Day a Nightmare: American Pursuit Pilots in the Defense of Java, 1941-1942', states the following on page 343:-

    "...on June 5 Dwight Muckley lost his life when the B-26 in which he was flying crashed in the Amberley-Archerfield area, killing all on board."

On 21 July 2021 Gordon Birkett was able to confirm the Serial No for this aircraft as being B-26 Marauder #40-1514. See document below which was located by Craig Busby. Note that it states the accident was south west of Archerfield whereas other documents about state that it was 4 miles south of Archerfield.

File:- Craig Busby via Gordon Birkett

This document identifies that the Serial No was #40-1514.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Liam Baker, Yvonne Kinkaid, Daniel Leahy, Bill Bartsch, Russ Walter, Cy Klimesh, Mike Thomason, Bob Livingstone, Noel Brettoner, Bob Piper, Michael Nelmes, Mike Stowe, Major M. Leichsenring, Rick Cone, Craig Busby, Gordon Birkett and Chris Jamesson for their assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 9 April 2007

This page last updated 22 July 2021