The Mission
At 10.30 pm on Good Friday, 8 April 1955, a call came through to fly a critically ill baby from the RAAF Townsville Airbase to Brisbane. There was no doubt RAAF would answer the call: No 10 Maritime Squadron were known in North Queensland as the ‘Good Deed Squadron’.
Wing Commander John Peter (Bluey) Costello, Squadron Leader Charles Surtees Mason, Squadron Leader John Watson Finlay and Flight Lieutenant William George Cater departed shortly after midnight with six souls were on aboard – including 26-six-year-old Nursing Sister Mafalda Gray, who had resigned to start a new job in Brisbane. She was seated in the nose of the Lincoln A73-64 bomber with 2-day-old baby, Andrea Robyn Huxley. The aircraft flew no higher than 6000 feet (1828 metres) to stop the baby from becoming hypoxic.
At 4.05 am the plane radioed Approach Control at Brisbane to advise that they would be landing in ten minutes
‘May we let down from 6000 feet to 5000 feet? We are in cloud at the moment’.
Brisbane Control replied, ‘Cleared to 5000 feet, or 4000 if you wish’…
A further transmission from Brisbane asked them to ‘report sighting Caboolture’ was acknowledged by, ‘Roger. Roger. Will do.’ …the last words received from the cockpit.
The Bushwalkers
Around that time at the Emu Creek Campground near the base of Mount Superbus, the highest peak in South-East Queensland, approximately 172 km SW from Brisbane, Robert Hart and Allan Gunn, members of thirty-five-strong party of bushwalkers from the Brisbane Bushwalkers’ Club, were camped to hike the 1375 metre peak the next day. They were woken by light rain. Shortly afterthey heard the distinctive rumble of a heavy airplane’s propeller engines in the cloud cover overhead, then the unmistakeable sound of a crash.
It was 4.14 am.
At the RAAF, Senior Aircraft Control Officer, Flight Lieutenant Taylor stationed at Eagle Farm was becoming increasingly concerned about the overdue aircraft. At 5am he contacted RAAF Operations Room at Amberley to commence the use of Cathode Ray Direction Finding (CRDF) equipment.
Search and Rescue efforts commenced by 6 am.
Bushwalker, Mr Peachey, telephoned the RAAF Operations Room at Amberly at 7.45 am to advise them of the aircraft crash on Mount Superbus (Sera-bis). They had mistakenly calculated the search area from the last radio contact and were searching near Kenilworth, 290 km to the North.
By 9 ambushwalkers had fresh information– smoke was sighted rising above Con’s Plains. At 2.15 pm the crash had been located 100 metres from the summit of Mount Superbus.
There were no survivors.
Police Inspector Guards Graves
Inspector Currey and Detective Holst, with a third police officer in tow, travelled from Toowoomba Police District to the Emu Creek camp site that morning. From there they hiked the challenging terrain and steep climb to the summit of Mount Superbus by late afternoon, where they located the crashed RAAF Lincoln bomber airplane 100 metres from the summit, a burnt-out shell with no signs of life.
After viewing the wreckage, the Inspector elected to stay on the mountain overnight to guard the graves of the six victims. He sent his men back in the remaining light to the relative comfort of the bushwalkers’ camp. Two volunteer bushwalkers remained with him, though they were ill-equipped and had few provisions.
By Easter 1955, Inspector Currey [2685] was a veteran of 32 years with Queensland Police and had accumulated over 21 years investigative experience. He gained his experience firstly at the Brisbane CIB, followed by Mackay CIB and at Townsville CIB where he was promoted to the rank of Detective Sergeant. Currey was promoted to Sub-Inspector at Toowoomba Police District in 1950, after serving seven years as Officer in Charge at Fortitude Valley Station.
He attained the rank of Inspector at Longreach Police District in 1951, then was transferred back to Toowoomba Police District in 1953. Currey’s final transfer was to Rockhampton Police District in 1957 where he stayed until his retirement on 2 November 1959. He joined the Queensland Police on 15 December 1923, aged 24 years 1 month, dedicating 36 years of service to the community. Ian Stanley Currey passed away in 1982.
Next week – Easter 1955 – Air Crash on Mt Superbus – Part 2 Disaster Victim Identification
This story was researched and written by Museum Assistant Debra Austin using the resources of the Queensland Police Museum which includes reminiscences of retired police officer Keith Loft in his article ‘Misericordiae Antemortem – The 1955 Mount Superbus Crash (Published in Australian Policing and A Journal of Professional Practices and Research). Keith Loft was a Coronial Support Officer whilst serving part time with the Disaster Victim Identification Squad. He meticulously researched the Mount Superbus Air Crash disaster from a DVI perspective, to explore the methodology used to positively identify the victims in 1955. Research was also gathered from historical Coronial files, Royal Australian Air Force files, Court of Inquiry documents and newspapers accounts archives.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“Easter 1955 – Air Crash on Mt Superbus – Part 1” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode