In 1942 the island of Java was invaded by the Japanese.
The allies organized an armada of aircraft to evacuate the allied personnel. The only
'safe haven' was the sleepy pearling town of Broome in Western Australia. Over the
course of two weeks, 8000 people were flown to Broome in a collection of aircraft
flown by RAF, USAAF, USN, RAAF, NEI and Qantas aircrew.

On the 3rd March 1942, 24 aircraft were transiting through Broome. Flying boats,
bombers and transports. At 9.30am, 9 Japanese Zero fighters attacked and
destroyed all but one of the allied aircraft with canon and machine gun fire.
Unfortunately the Japanese commander had no idea that these legitimate military
targets contained hundreds of innocent civilians.

Fifty eight years later in 2001, the WA Maritime Museum dived on the 15 sunken
flying boats in Roebuck Bay, as part of a TV documentary in association with
Prospero Films and the National Geographic Channel.

This website is not only a record of that dive but also the tragic story of a wartime
disaster, where hundreds of innocent civilians were unwittingly caught in the
wrong place at the wrong time. The Zero Hour and Carnot Bay material is
based on research by Jon Davison.