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Operation: Fighter Sweep, Lae, New Guinea
Date: 11th April 1942 (Saturday)
Unit No: 75 Squadron RAAF
Type: Kittyhawk 1A
Serial: A29-38 *
Code: None allocated
Base: 7 Mile Drome, Port Moresby, New Guinea.
Location: Salamaua, New Guinea
Pilot: Sgt. David Stuart Brown 401489 RAAF Age 25. Murdered
* Built as P-40E Warhawk, Ser No. 41-5532, for the USAAF.
Above Sgt. David S. Brown from his Service Record
REASON FOR LOSS:
On the 11th April 1942 seven (7) Kittyhawk aircraft led by Fg Off. J. Woods took off at 06:21 hrs to escort nine USAAF A-24 Banshee aircraft in an attack on aircraft and the aerodrome at Lae on the 11th April 1942. Fg Off. Woods flying A29-12, led the top cover and close cover consisted of Fg Off. Piper in A29-41 and Sgt. Brown in A29-38.
When approaching Lae from the sea, Fg Off. Piper with Sgt. Brown saw three (3) enemy Zero type fighters below attacking the dive bombers and dived steeply on them. As Fg Off. Piper continued to engage the enemy aircraft the top cover was intercepted by another flight of three enemy Zero type fighters. The attention of all Kittyhawk pilots was concentrated on the enemy and Sgt. Brown was not seen after the initial attack.
However, a pilot of one (1) of the A-24 Banshee Dive Bombers stated that he saw what he considered to have been a Kittyhawk aircraft, presumably A29-38, diving steeply towards the sea about this time. A considerable amount of light and heavy Anti-Aircraft (AA) fire was encountered but did not appear particularly effective.
The operation was highly successful as the Dive Bombers scored a direct hit on a fuel dump which Army patrols reported burnt with increasing intensity for 24 hours and was accompanied by a series of loud explosions. The Squadrons Kittyhawk’s destroyed three Zero type enemy fighters in combat and two more were probably destroyed.
Sgt. Brown’s Kittyhawk was variously described as being hit by AA fire and/or shot down by an enemy fighter aircraft.
A Japanese report from the Officer i/c of a section of Japanese soldiers described that on or about the 10th April 1943 an Australian P40 was hit by Anti-Aircraft (AA) over Lae but managed to remain airborne until it reached Satamaua where it ditched in the sea.
He sent eleven men to investigate and encountered an Australian pilot climbing a hill in the vicinity of the Chinese settlement armed with a knife and a pistol. When he was halted he surrendered after being threatened by the Section's machinegun. He was then taken back to their headquarters after which he was handed over to a Japanese Naval officer at Lae.
The details provided about the airman and the circumstances and location of the aircraft loss confirms that they had captured Sgt. Brown. The Officer heard that the pilot had been sent to the No.8 Naval Base at Rabaul in an aircraft which regularly brought mail and supplies to Lae from Rabaul.
M/Sgt. Theron K. Lutz 6833758 and Cpl. Sanger E. Reed 6990404 both from the USAAF stated that they and Sgt. Brown were kept in the same room at Rabaul for about four weeks. M/Sgt. Lutz and Cpl. Reed were shipped out of Rabaul on 26th May 1942 by Aircraft Carrier and taken to Japan. After their release they stated that Sgt. Brown had been separated from them on the wharf and they did not know whether he was taken on board the ship or remained in Rabaul.
Sgt. Brown was never officially reported by the Japanese as a PoW and his name does not appear on any lists of the prisoners kept by the PoWs themselves in all Japanese prison camps.
After the Japanese surrender an RAAF search party uncovered thirty (30) bodies from a Japanese Naval execution ground near the Matupi volcano, Rabaul. The majority of the bodies appear to have been executed by decapitation and in some cases the victims had been bound wire before being killed.
Four (4) of the Australians and three (3) Americans had been known to be in the hands of the Japanese Navy in Rabaul and had allegedly been sent away by ship. The other nine (9) identified RAAF airmen were not previously known to have been captured were from 20 Sqn PBY-5 Catalina A24-18.
The recovered remains of two (2) RAAF airmen were never identified as were the remains of nine (9) American servicemen and two (2) unidentified whose Nationality were unknown.
Sgt. Brown was one (1) of the other four (4) identified RAAF airmen and the other three (3) were:
Flt Lt. Geoffrey Hubert Vincent 400866 RAAF and WO. John Pretty Bailey 4240 RAAF who were respectively the Pilot and Observer from 8 Sqn Beaufort A9-244 which was reported missing on operations on the 21st October 1943;
Fg Off. Ross Bryan O’Loghlen 400662 RAAF who was the Observer from 8 Sqn Beaufort A9-262 which was missing on operations over New Ireland/New Britain on the 4th December 1943.
The three Americans were from the USAAF, USNR and USN:
1st Lt. Phillip L. Bek, Silver Star (SS), DFC O-724280 USAAF who was the Navigator aboard B-17F 41-24454 lost on the 13th June 1942;
ENS. Philip Kirk Phillis O-251356 USNR and AAM2c. Paul Munroe Mannon 6603207 USN who were a 2nd Pilot and Gunner respectively from a VPB-52 "Black Cats" PBY-5A Catalina #8428 which was lost on the 20th November 1943.
The investigation team were of the opinion, in light of the discoveries that were made, that the total number of prisoners murdered at Matupi over the whole period must have been at least one hundred (100) and likely to be many more.
With one exception none of the Japanese directly responsible for the murders of Allied airmen in this area were brought to trial. These known criminals can be divided into various classes:
Died or killed in action before end of war;
Committed suicide to avoid arrest, e.g. Rear Admiral (Kaigun-shōshō) FUJITA who was responsible for the murder of Flt Lt. William Ellis Newton VC, 250748 RAAF and Rear Admiral (Kaigun-shōshō) KIYAMA who was responsible for some of the murders at RABAUL;
Because of the cunning with which the Japanese had covered their tracks sufficient evidence had not been obtained when investigations closed;
Criminals that were still alive and at large against whom sufficient evidence of guilt had been obtained.
Burial details:
Above: Rabaul (Bita Pita) War Cemetery (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC))
Sgt. David Stuart Brown. Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, H.C.8. Grave Inscription: “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS THAT HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE”. Born on the 9th December 1916 in Castlemaine, Victoria. Son of Leslie John and Jessie Brown of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia.
Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the pilot and his family (Dec 2024).
Other sources listed below:
RS 03.12.2024 - Initial upload
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Last Modified: 17 December 2024, 15:20