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The remains of yet another WWII Beaufort bomber have been discovered underwater following a routine hydrographic survey.
The aircraft, A9-497, was lost during a 1944 mission when it made an emergency water landing off the coast of Darwin. Remarkably, all four crew members survived the incident and were rescued the next day.
Charles Collins, who led the survey team at the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO), said the discovery was surprising.
“We knew of a few shipwrecks in the area, but as the sonar image began appearing on the screen, it was clear we had found an intact aircraft,” Collins said.
“From the data, you could clearly make out everything on it and you just wondered what had happened to this aircraft. It was thrilling to discover and be a part of.”
The team used a type of sonar that maps the seabed, and the images produced provided a clear enough picture to infer not only what type of aircraft was detected but what state it was in when it landed.
After analysis, the team believes the cockpit’s throttles, engines and propellers were intact, and the Beaufort itself belonged to RAAF’s No. 1 Squadron.
Operating out of Gould, about 100 kilometres south of Darwin, it would have conducted a range of tasks, from offensive operations over Japanese-held territory in Timor-Leste to convoy protection across the north of Australia.
Defence said A9-497 will remain underwater undisturbed and will be managed by the Northern Territory government.
It’s remarkably the third Beaufort identified underwater in recent years, following the discovery of both A9-186 and A9-374.
Australia began mass producing the Beaufort in the late 1930s to patrol Australia’s vast coastline and fly far out to sea to strike at an invasion fleet.
In total, 700 were constructed between 1941 and September 1944, each needing 39,000 carefully manufactured parts.
The aircraft itself was twin-engined and capable of carrying a crew of four as well as either a torpedo or bombs.
“From 1941, the Beaufort was pressed into service to counter the Japanese threat, with new aircraft being flown direct to the New Guinea battlefronts and northern Australia,” explains the Australian War Memorial.
“The Beaufort rapidly became the RAAF’s primary bomber type in the Pacific war, being used by 19 front-line squadrons, of which nine were all-Beaufort equipped.
“Other machines were sent to patrol the coasts, escort ship convoys or fly with Operational Training Units in NSW and Victoria.”
