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Dates |
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Event |
From 30 June 1943 to 8 July 1943 |
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Constructed as a B-24D-145-CO by Consolidated at San Diego, CA, USA. |
12 July 1943 |
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First flight. |
16 July 1943 |
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Taken on Strength/Charge with the United States Army Air Force with s/n 42-41182. |
18 July 1943 |
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To the modification center at Tucson, AZ. |
1 August 1943 |
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To a staging area at Palm Springs, CA. |
2 October 1943 |
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Ferry flight.
Departed Fairfield, CA, on an overseas flight. |
10 October 1943 |
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Ferry flight.
Arrived overseas at Townsville. |
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Transferred to 5th AF/380BG/529SQ, Long Strip, NT, Australia. |
17 November 1943 |
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First mission to Tjepoe, Java. |
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The aircrafts service with the 529th squadron was not particularly successful. 42-41182 was considered a jinxed aircraft because several crews had to abort a number of missions due to mechanical problems. |
7 May 1944 |
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Crashed.
On the 7th of May 1944 it made a test flight after an engine change. The crew --under the command of Captain Lt. William T. Robinson Jr-- was rebuilding their confidence in flying after they had crashed in the Huon Golf on 5 March 1944. The landing after this test flight was a very hard one, and the starboard main gear was torn off. After this accident the Liberator was not repaired and set aside. |
9 May 1944 |
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Struck off Strength/Charge from the United States Army Air Force. |
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To unknown owner.
After the war the remains were sold to a civilian and he converted the cockpit section into a very sturdy caravan. |
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To unknown owner.
It changed hands a few times and was used as a caravan until its last owner died, somewhere in the early seventies. |
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It then languished on a camping in or around Perth, Western Australia. In the early eighties somebody recognized something special in this strange caravan and after negotiations, the widow of the last owner donated it to the Australian government for display in a museum. |
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To Australian Aviation Heritage Centre, Winnellie, Darwin, Northern Territory.
 View the Location Dossier |
27 August 2001 |
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Photographer: Han de Ridder |
27 August 2001 |
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Photographer: Han de Ridder |
27 August 2001 |
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Photographer: Han de Ridder |
27 August 2001 |
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Photographer: Han de Ridder
Notes: Inside the caravan, taken without flash. |
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To Darwin Aviation Museum, Winnellie, Darwin, Northern Territory.
View the Location Dossier |
|
 | | This airframe dossier is based on
unreviewed imported data.
If you can verify the documented history or add to it with additional text and/or photos please feel free to do so by using the upload tool and the history editor. |
