Bakers Creek Air Crash Memorial
CnrCantor Drive and Ivers Street, Parallel to Bruce Highway,(8km south of Mackay)
Bakers Creek QLD 4740
Aircraft propeller supported between two brick columns. The columnsdisplay two plaques: Left: Crash and Memorial information; Right: Roll of Honour Battle of the Coral Sea tribute.
(Refer to additional information regarding the twin memorial to the air crash in the United States)
- Inscription
Plaque - Crash and Memorial Information:
ON JUNE 14 1943, A VH-CBA B-17C AIRCRAFT OF THE
UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE CRASHED SHORTLY
AFTER TAKE-OFF APPROXIMATELY 1KM NORTH OF
HERE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF BAKERS CREEK
NEAR THE SITE WHERE THE MEATWORKS NOW STANDS.ON BOARD WERE FIVE CREW AND THIRTY-EIGHT
PASSENGERS WHO WERE RETURNING TO NEW GUINEA
AFTER COMPLETING "R AND R" IN MACKAY. THERE WAS
ONLY ONE SURVIVOR.THE AIRCRAFT WAS OPERATED BY THE 46TH TROOP
CARRIER SQUADRON, OF THE 317TH TROOP CARRIER
GROUP WHICH FORMED PART OF THE 5TH AIR FORCE.THE CRASH OF THE B-17C WAS THE WORST ACCIDENT
INVOLVING A TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT IN THE
SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC DURING WORLD WAR II.THIS MEMORIAL WAS CONSTRUCTED BY THE
PEOPLE OF MACKAY DISTRICT IN HONOUR OF
THE FORTY-TWO UNITED STATES MILITARY
PERSONNEL WHO WERE KILLED AND THE ONE
SURVIVOR, AND WAS DEDICATED ON 11TH MAY 1992.Plaque: Roll of Honour
PERSONNEL IN BOARD
CREW
[6 NAMES]
PASSENGERS
[17 NAMES] [17 NAMES]
SURVIVOR
[1 NAME]
- Conflicts commemorated
- Second World War, 1939–1945
- Unit memorials
- Memorial type
- Cenotaph/shrine
- Additional information
On 5 June 2009, nearly 66 years after the tragic American plane crash in Australia, a second Bakers Creek Memorial was inserted in an area of lawn at Fort Myer, Virginia, USA. The Arlington National Cemetery was the backdrop.
A truck equipped with a crane and at least four men from Codori Memorials,gently lifted and guided the 1-ton Bakers Creek Memorial to its new home. Volunteers had been working toward the moment since 2003. It had previously resided at the Australian Embassy since 2006, because there was no location for the memorial.
The Pennsylvania company crafted the marker, and the citizens of Queensland, in the location of Bakers Creek, and the Australian government donated the pink granite base it sits on. In attendance were 23 family members from Georgia, New Hampshire, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, who converged on the monument. There was also a dedicated band of Australians whose honors for the American servicemen have included a memorial in their country.
(Source: Times Record News, USA)
(Images source: Scripps Howard News Service)- Recorded by
- Shirley and Trevor McIvor/Glen Hall, Mackay Historical Society/Trish Choate, Times Record News and Elida Perez, Scripps Howard News Service
- Date recorded
- 23 February 2009
Nearby memorials
- Bakers Creek/Dundula District Honour Board
- Coningsby State School 1914-1919 Roll of Honor
- Dundula State School Honour Board
- Glenella State School 1939–1945 Honour Board
- Glenella State School Honour Board 1914–1918
- Homebush and District Honour Board 1914-1919
- Mackay 2/12th Battalion Memorial
- Mackay Mafeking Boer War Memorial
- Mackay National Servicemens Memorial
- Mackay Old Town Hall Honour Board