By mid 1942, the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway had been fought and won against the Japanese. It was to be the turning point in the war but that was unclear at the time. In Australia, several airfields were being constructed between Townsville and Charters Towers in North Queensland. However, 18 months later, they were nearly deserted. Fanning Airfield was built but never used.

A small memorial sits on the outer side of the pool at the northern end of the Strand in Townsville, overlooking Cleveland Bay. It is a lonely and sad memorial to a tragic event that showed that in WWII, our airmen were not only subject to the perils of enemy action but also the prevailing weather conditions at the time.

Early on foggy morning in June 1943, a war weary B-17C of the USAAF, took off from Mackay Airport bound for New Guinea. it climbed through the fog layer and levelled out before commencing 2 left hand turns. Then suddenly, it plunged into bushland. A fireball erupted and all but one of the 41 occupants onboard were killed. It was and remains today, Australia’s worse aviation disaster.