World War II pilot Don Howard was stationed at Rathmines in 1943 when seven men died in a Catalina crash off Shoal Bay.
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“They didn’t attempt to raise the plane they declared it a burial at sea,” Mr Howard said, from his Nelson Bay home, overlooking the likely crash site.
“There was a northwest wind blowing when they were practicing full-stall landings in rough water.”
The location of the plane has been the matter of speculation and hypothesis over the years.
Earlier this month, Dora Creek dive instructor Ian Campbell declared his interest to have the site mapped. Poor conditions prevented the search that was to take place on the Battle for Australia Day.
Mr Howard, now in his 90s, said there was no doubt the plane, or what remains of it, are out there somewhere, between Shoal Bay and Jimmys Beach.
He points to a place midway between the two, inside the heads.
“You bring the tail down close to the water and pull the nose up until you’re in a wing-stall, and woosh, you land,” Mr Howard said.
“I don’t know what happened that day.
“It was war time so there was no effort to recover the bodies it was declared a burial at sea.”
Among the eight men was flight lieutenant BH ‘Tubby’ Higgins, the ranking officer on the training flight. A man Mr Howard had sat with, over meals and drinks, in the mess at Rathmines.
“Nobody gave [the crash] a second thought. it was part of life in those days,” Mr Howard said.
“People had had crashes before and there wasn’t anything special about one crash, though it was unusual being a training flight.”
Mr Howard learnt to fly on Tiger Moths in Narrandera in 1941.
He was posted to the 70th Squadron at Rathmines on July 6, 1942 where he converted from fighters to sea planes. His thought was to become a commercial pilot for Qantas after the war.
“From the first time I had met Tubby, he had done tours at war,” Mr Howard said.
“He had done a tour up around the Coral Sea, where the Catalinas would find a fleet and warn head office.
“He had probably done two tours and he was back at Rathmines instructing.”
At the time of the crash, Mr Howard had returned from his own tour duties, to Rathmines, where he too was instructing.
“They were beautiful slow old things,” he said of the Catalina.
“Eighty or ninety feet long, 104 foot wing span and two Pratt and Whitney 12 cylinder engines.”
“I don’t want them to find it.”
Being a burial site Mr Howard said it should not be disturbed.
“What’s it even matter, There’s been a hundred crashes,” he said.
“I guess it’s a curiosity for some people but I don’t think there would be anything left.”
Mr Howard flew many hours “up North” having been based at Cairns among other places.
On one mission he and his crew flew a new Catalina from the United States back to Australia. Having started the war with six Catalina he said Australia had received 180 of them by the end.
After three tours he transferred to 113 Air-Sea Rescue, based at Morotai, and was very nearly killed at sea himself, dragged from the wreck with broken ribs.
“My plane is still out there in the ocean,” he said.
“I have no recollection of the two months beforehand.”
A memorial to the seven crew that died in the crash is located at the Inner Lighthouse, also home to Port Stephens Marine Rescue.