Townsville, North Queensland Australia c 1943 ...

[Dan K]

Veterans of action with the 35th FS/8th FG!

[43-2195]

The signs designating the igloos, W stood for Warehouse and R for repair. The letters were followed by a number due to the large number of igloos.

[Sopwith]

Don't suppose you've any pictures of the scapping of stuff at Oakey, by any chance Mark?

[raconnel]

Color photos of some of the same planes can be found among the Life images hosted by Google.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f7 ... 24760.html

For example:



Richard

[RHenry]

Noticing the difference in blast tubes for the nose guns... are they both variations for the .50s, or is it .303s vs .50s in the nose?

I've seen one reference on the 'net to a variant with 6 x .303s + 1 x 20mm, but no cross reference to verify...

[gemmer]

Noticing the difference in blast tubes for the nose guns... are they both variations for the .50s, or is it .303s vs .50s in the nose?

I've seen one reference on the 'net to a variant with 6 x .303s + 1 x 20mm, but no cross reference to verify...

The ones on the left and right are P-39D1s. As is Sun Setter pictured above. The one in the middle could be a P-400, P-39D or P-39F.
All three are .50 cal. The P-400 and P-39D1 had a 20MM.

[hang the expense]

Anyone notice the early Curtiss CW 19 or21 minus its engine?Could that be a Dutch bird?

[43-2195]

The Curtiss Falcons in Australia during the war are well documented. It's possible that the one in the photo is having it's engine changed after a forced landing. One Curtiss Falcon with Depot #2 force landed due engine failure, had the engine changed and then ditched off Magnetic Island (Townsville) due to engine failure. Some of the wreckage is still there in Geoffrey Bay.

[Chris Brame]

Anyone notice the early Curtiss CW 19 or 21 minus its engine? Could that be a Dutch bird?

I didn't - good catch!
I did spot one of my old favorites, a B-18, lurking in the background:

[hang the expense]

[quote="43-2195"]The Curtiss Falcons in Australia during the war are well documented. It's possible that the one in the photo is having it's engine changed after a forced landing. One Curtiss Falcon with Depot #2 force landed due engine failure, had the engine changed and then ditched off Magnetic Island (Townsville) due to engine failure. Some of the wreckage is still there in Geoffrey Bay.[/qu Thanks for that. I never knew they were down undah.

[Mark Allen M]

Thx kindly everyone for posting good stuff. Much appreciated.

M

[fiftycal]

poor P-39's

[43-2195]

Thank you Mark. Very much appreciated.

Hang the expense, in the very early days of the war when P-40s were being shipped into Australia and ferryed north to asia, a large number were being lost to landing accidents by US pilots with little P-40 experience. The RAAF loaned at least one of their Wirraway aircraft to the USAAF for flight training. This was of some assistance, and a more permanent solution was supplying curtiss falcons to provide additional flight training. One 90th Bomb group pilot(319th BS) acquired one of the falcons (not sure of the circumstances) but he returned to his base in the Northern Territory and it was subsequently destroyed in a Japanese bombing raid. They have a very interesting history.

[Dave Downs]

Re: The very first picture - what's with the trees growing through the igloo?? Camouflage?

[fnqvmuch]

quoting from ozatwar - garbutt;
"Another eight 51.8 metre span three-pin nailed arch camouflage hangars were built at Garbutt. They were designed to be of a temporary nature but some were later re-roofed with sheet metal. ..."
Which I thought might explain it, given how fast things grow here.
I note Charters Towers was apparently the related ammo/munitions facility; fair way inland but with transport and tunnels.
Proximity has me hoping someone might come up with some from Mareeba (Hoevet) or Iron Range ...
thanks all, especially Mark.
Steven