Hi HardLuck
I do remember this story, I pulled out some old files today and located a document that was mailed to me back in 2003.
Papers relating to the nomination of a suite of wrecks in
Broome to the Register of Heritage Places under the
Heritage of Western Australia Act 1990
here is an extract :
Soon all the other aircraft moored nearby suffered a similar fate as they were
strafed with small arms and cannon fire. All were holed and started to sink,
at the same time they too caught fire. Being aluminum, a known source of
fuel in high temperature blazes, it appears that in many cases, the fire spread
rapidly progressing downwards to consume much of what remained above
the water.
The wings invariably broke at their roots and having floats on their
ends they inverted as the main hull sank beneath them, often to cross over the
centre-line of the aircraft?s hull.
Some hulls exploded, others just sank according to the order in which the
water entered the hull and floatation systems. In the description of the
wrecking of Catalina Y-59, for example, one Dutch aviator Fritz Van Hulssen
described how the rear of the plane was ?gutted? by fire and sank at anchor.
The Japanese departed, as quickly as they came, leaving fifteen burning
flying boat hulks sinking in the waters just off the town jetty and many
shattered aircraft on the landing strip closer to town.
Other aircraft including a B 52 bomber were downed as they tried to escape and one unfortunate DC3
type carrying refugees and a parcel of
diamonds towards Broome met the
departing Japanese flight, and after being extensively damaged, was forced to
crash-land in the shallows north of the town.
Many Broome residents displayed great heroism in the face of extreme
danger in trying to save the refugees trapped in the sinking, burning, aircraft.
Other townsfolk also rallied around to provide shelter and assistance to the
refugees when the raid was over.
if you would like the complete document let me know, i will photo copy it ans convert it to pdf format.
hope this helps
Regards
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