Sunday History Photo / NT

USAAF B-24 Liberator #42-40509 (D-65-CO), "Nothing Sacred", of the 529 Bomb Squadron, 380th Bomb Group, 5th Air Force, crashed into Sugar Loaf Hill, a short distance from Fenton airfield in the Northern Territory on 21 September 1943 when approaching for a landing at night time. The aircraft was flown by the Parris crew from the 530th Bomb Squadron.




The wreckage of the Ünited States Army Air Force (U.S.A.A.F.) B24D "Nothing Sacred" is one of over 100 sites in the Northern Territory illustrating the tragedy and loss of life typical of World War Two. The site represents the military alliance with the United States and underscores the sacrifices made by US servicemen in the defence of Australia. The remains of the wreck of the “Nothing Sacred” B-24D Liberator are significant as a tangible reminder of the air war conducted against the Japanese during World War Two from Australia. It is also a tangible link to the association the 380th Bomb Group had in Australia and the specific role that it played in the war.


I first seen the site from a fly over in a Jabiru 120 on ?20 ?February ?2010, and I forgot to get the GPS Co-ords during the flight, it then took 3 visits and a lot of walking to find the site . The second search took me within 170m of the site but could not see it through the bush and then gave up and returned home. the third search was successful.
The crew of ten were all killed. The only survivor was an extra passenger, a photographer.

Those killed were:-
Lt. Hugh B. Parris
Archibald S. Mills, Jr.
Andrew B. Edwards, Jr.
Urban V.W. Darlington
Leonard R. Greene
Dossie J. Odom
Ralph T. Newbold
Albert Mirarchi
William O. Miller
LaVerne F. Parsons
Their mission was to destroy the recently discovered airfield at Langgoer. The target was covered in clouds on their first approach. The clouds appeared to be breaking up when they made their second approach. They were immediately attacked by about two dozen "Zero" and "Nick" Japanese fighter aircraft. Within a short time, four Liberators had been hit by the Japanese aircraft. Jack Bratton's Liberator shot down two Japanese aircraft.
Wilbur Morris's B-24 was hit and its number four engine blew up. It eventually crash landed. Hugh Parris's "Nothing Sacred" also lost an engine. He dropped his bomb load and fought his way out of the area.
Marvin Baker's aircraft had its Number Three engine shot out. Baker and Dennis were able to bomb the target. Cesario shot down two Japanese aircraft but failed to drop his bombs on the target.
Cunningham also had an engine shot out and the aircraft was badly shot up. They shot down three Japanese aircraft.
On their return to Australia, Cunningham and Baker landed their damaged aircraft at Darwin. Parris decided to fly on to his home base at Fenton airfield. They crashed into Sugar Loaf Hill X miles short of Fenton airfield.

I did find a cylinder I believe was a Co2 Auto Fire Extinquiser, it was not taken from the site of the crash, Parts at the site are like sacred, it was found by me some distance from the site in another connecting creek, I presume it had floated up the creek during the Wet Season and got deposited on higher ground probably many years ago. I still have it today,
Note : As at 27 July 2014, this site is now closed to public access. It is on private land, and is used for cattle grazing. However, a few years ago some campers decided to spend the night at the airfield and their campfire got out of hand, leading to the death of several animals. Hence, all of the external signage has been taken down, and the former access road is now gated and padlocked.



To see how this part works go to this You Tube link and move to the video time of 2 minutes and 38 secondsPART

To view the record of Nothing Sacred go to this linkRECORD



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