The 49'ers started as the 49th Fighter Pursuit Group in the US Army Air Corps when Major Glen Davasher took command of the newly formed group on 20 November 1940 at Selfridge airfield in Michigan, USA. It was formed from parts of the 94th Pursuit Group.
On 16 May 1941 the 49th Pursuit Group relocated in 75 trucks to their new
home base at Morrison airfield at West
Palm Beach.
At Christmas time 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbour, orders were received for the 49th Pursuit Group to mobilise.
On 4 January 1942, the 49'ers boarded trains and set out for California, arriving in San Francisco on 8 January 1942. They stayed in the County Livestock Pavilion, affectionately known as the "Cow Palace". While in San Francisco they signed on 75 new pilots and 587 more enlisted men.
Embarkment orders were issued on 10 January 1942 and on 12 January 1942 they headed by truck to the Matson Ship Line docks. The majority of the 49'ers boarded the USAAT Mariposa and the remainder boarded the USAT Coolidge.
They mostly thought that their destination was a base in the southern Philippine Islands but the Japanese put finish to that plan.
On 28 January 1942, the ship's captain advised Major Wurtsmith that their course had been changed and their new destination was
Melbourne, Australia. On 31 January 1942, the convoy sighted the Australian coastline at Cape Howes. As they travelled south along the coastline they could see the blue outline of the
Snowy Mountains. On 1 February 1942, after passing
Wilson's Promontory, their escort, the USS Phoenix, left them and they were joined by two tug boats to escort them into Port Phillip Bay in
Melbourne.
Fighter aircraft and light bombers, originally destined for the Philippines were diverted to
Brisbane and Townsville. Once assembled they would be flown west for the journey to
Darwin (Base One). From
Brisbane they would fly 400
miles due west to
Charleville. Then a further 550
miles to
Cloncurry, still in Queensland. Aircraft assembled in Townsville would fly 400
miles directly to
Cloncurry. The next leg was a 500 mile hop to
Daly Waters in the Northern Territory and then finally the leg to
Darwin.
This route was part of what was known as the "Brereton Route" from
Brisbane to Java.
The Corporal in charge of the refuelling crew at
Cloncurry in November 1942 described the "Brereton Route" as follows:-
"You won't have any trouble finding your way to
Darwin. Just follow the trail of crashed Kittyhawks, you can't go wrong."
By March 1942, about 330 Kittyhawks had been delivered to various Units of the USAAF in Australia. 140 of these were lost during training accidents in Australia.
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The Stuart Hwy is just on the other side of the tree line , left side of photo
The 8th Pursuit Squadron had arrived in the
Darwin area on 17 February 1942 and discovered that their permanent base was still being built. They were then assigned to a small airfield outside of
Adelaide River. This 2 runway airfield was established by the RAAF, plans were submitted in 1940, and it's location was on Mt Bundy Station, I'm not sure how long the 49th was here at Mt Bundy , it may have been only for a few weeks because the airstrips were un-useable during the wet season because they are situated on a flood plain, so they were abandoned sometime late 1942. While the squadron was here they performed maintenance and carried out adjustments to the .50 Cal machine guns, after locating the exact site where the target was setup I have found some rounds in the area, They had a
camp set up at the Southern end of the
Airstrip and I have located the sites where they had a Duty Pilot's Tower and a
camp. Incidentally this tower is listed in the A.W.M as being at Strauss
Airstrip near
Noonamah.
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On 6 June 1942, Lieutenant C.C. Johnson of the 8th Fighter Squadron of the 49th Fighter Group, USAAF made a heavy landing at
Adelaide River airfield. It was badly damaged but Johnson was uninjured.
The wreck was taken away by truck by the 43rd Air Maintenance Unit Depot from Pell airfield a few
miles up the track from the
crash site. The Kittyhawk was repaired and returned to the 8th Fighter Squadron a few days later.
On 9 June 1942, 2nd Lt. William H. Payne of the 7th Fighter Squadron of the 49th Fighter Group was killed when his Kittyhawk #41-5557 crashed at Brocks Creek in the Northern Territory, 20
miles south of
Adelaide River.
He was taking part in a high altitude flight to
test some new oxygen equipment. It is presumed that the oxygen equipment failed and he blacked out. His Kittyhawk slammed into the ground and exploded on impact. Little was recognisable in
the crater left by the impact. Payne's body was torn apart by the impact and explosion.
Payne had recently been hospitalised for yellow jaundice and had also suffered from the effects of high altitude.
Payne's remains were buried in the
Adelaide River American
cemetery.
What was left of his aircraft was later salvaged by the 43rd Materiel Squadron based at
Adelaide River.
After the short stay here at
Adelaide River the group moved to
Batchelor.
In the 5 months that the 49th Fighter Group spent in the Northern Territory they shot down 64 Japanese aircraft for the loss of 16 of their P-40 Kittyhawks.
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