Broome Aftermath

Following their successful raid on Broome, the remaining
8 Japanese Zero’s, well pleased with the morning’s
pickings headed up the WA coast to their base onTimor.
They were not expecting any more action and were
therefore surprised to intercept a Royal Dutch East Indies
Airlines DC-3.


Bill Carswell and the wreckage from Smirnoff's Dakota
exposed at low tide, at Carnot Bay in the 1970's - B Carswell.

The aircraft, piloted by the celebrated Ivan Smirnoff, had left Java
with 11 persons on board bound for Broome. Just before he left
Java, Smirnoff was handed a small package wrapped in brown
paper, he never opened it and had no idea what it contained.

The Japanese wasted no time & quickly shot the DC-3 down.
With his aircraft on fire, Smirnoff managed a brilliant crash-landing
on the beach at Carnot Bay just north of Broome. The Zero’s
continued straffing the crashed aircraft and wounded some of
the passengers. During the 5 days on the beach 4 people died
of their wounds including a mother and her 18 month old baby.
To add to this, the day after the crash they were bombed by a
large Japanese flying boat returning from a reconnaisance of
Broome.


Authorities inspecting the wreck site at Carnot Bay

Initially, the flying boat dropped biscuits, but upon intercepting
the downed aircrafts distress signals, and assuming that
Australian fighters would soon be on the scene, they promptly
dropped bombs as well.

Following their harrowing ordeal, Smirnoff was questioned by
the authorities about ‘the Package’. More worried about
protecting his passengers than the‘package’, he was surprised
to learn that it contained a vast fortune in diamonds. They had
been retrieved from Amsterdam to avoid being taken by the
invading Germans and were to be held by the Commonwealth
Bank in Australia for safekeeping. The diamonds had a value
of $300,000, which translates to about $20,000,000 today.

In the ensuing weeks after the crash, a local fisherman noticed
the aircraft and searched the wreck site, in doing so he found
a small package, he said that he only found a few of the stones!
Following long drawn out court cases, only a small portion of
the diamonds were ever recovered. Stories abound as to where
they may have ended up, from Aboriginies to fishermen and
locals in Broome.

It would seem that a vast fortune in diamonds is still unaccounted
for! Wreckage from Smirnoff’s DC-3 still lies entombed in the mud
at Carnot Bay.


The Prospero crew and members of WAMM at
the Carnot Bay site. Photo by WA Maritime Museum.

The B24 Liberator crash

An American Consolidated B24 Liberator was shot down
just after take-off during the raid, killing 33 personnel aboard.
This aircraft is thought to have crashed into the sea about 10
kms off Cable Beach. There were no eye witnesses to the
actual crash and judging by the direction the wind was blowing
on the day (Japanese aerial photo) it is thought that Roebuck
Bay may be the site. To this day people have wondered why
this many ‘able-bodied’ servicemen did not survive the crash,
considering the aircraft went in at a shallow angle.

It has been found that these servicemen were all wounded
aircrew on their way to Perth and other hospitals in Australia.
You can imagine the horrific scene. Men not killed on impact
as the huge aircraft hit the ocean would have been struggling
with arms and legs in slings and other war injuries hampering
their escape. It is no wonder that only one man (Donoho)
survived the crash, reaching shore some 24 hours later.

There are reports of a second survivor who died on
the beach, but there is no proof of this statement.
It appears to have originated from a Chicago Herald
newspaper article.




Consolidated B24 liberator. top: My (digital)
interpretation of what the LB30 may have
ooked like not long after the crash

Grateful thanks to Merv Prime for historical
data and information.

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