Can anyone identify this RAAF crane

[Col Tigwell]

Just goes to show you cannot trust the notes on the picture.

The aircraft was written off on the 22/12/44 at Wama strip at Morotai.

The r/h mainplane was damaged beyond repair. The aircraft was returned to Australia for repair but was instead put up for disposal.

FWD's by the way did not fully come out of RAAF service until the very late 50's and were very highly thought of. A lot were disposed of by the two airfield construction squadrons, which would have meant that many would have ended up in Victoria and Darwin

Regards

Col

[Larry Hayward]

I wonder how the AWM came to have this as a 22 Sqn aircraft and said to be pictured at Balikpapan? I suppose that the guys with the Beaufighter wreck somehow picked up on this and painted it as a 22 Sqn machine.

Looking at the photo the ground does look too smooth to be Balikpapan compared to other shots I have. I thought this was the crane operated by my Dad when he was there in 1946 with the RAF.

However in discussing what his crane looked like with him he says the crane he found there was completely different to the one in the photo in that it was self propelled, on four wheels, jointed in the middle and steared by hydraulic rams on the side. It was ideal for engine changed on Dakotas etc as it could be positioned with a fair amount of accuracy when lining up retaining bolts on the Dakota engine.

So any clues as to what this crane was and whether it was RAAF or even a US design?

[cliff]

Originally Posted by Larry Hayward

So any clues as to what this crane was and whether it was RAAF or even a US design?

Tony Smith said "Peter's Bros Articulated "G-Well" crane, and that it is actually mounted into the deck of the GMC". and I agree with him.

I originally thought the GMC may be one of the rare Aussie Airborne models BUT it could be an early closed cab GMC-CCKW 353 that has had it's cab roof removed when the crane was fitted.

EDIT: It could also be a type of LE TOURNEAU crane as well.

[Col Tigwell]

The aircraft concerned never served with 22 Sqdn. And in actual fact never served with any other operational units. Served with OTU's and only served with 30 Sqdn for a few weeks until written off.

There was a surplus at that time of Beaufighters and I suspect that it was written off because they could not find another r/h wing for it. Aircraft as it stands at Harold Thomas's today is fitted with a replacement Beaufort wing.

Have had a fair bit to do with this airplane until Harold died, and really it could have been returned to service if they could have found the parts with some speed. The fact the airplane was shiiped back to Australia tends to support this.

As for the photo be labled wrong well I would back the aircraft history card every time.

Regards

Col


The crane could have been borrowed, as when I joined the air force in 1957, we were still using Federal and Fowker cranes, may have been loaned by the Yanks.

[Justin Pollard]

Thanks for clearing that up Col,
It certainly didnt make sense to me that it would be a 22 SQN Beau.
Happy that i was spot on with 30 SQN.

I wonder how many more pics are captioned wrong in the AWM archives?.

Justin.

[Ian Fawbert]

Hi Cliff,

I think you might be right about it not being an airborne truck. The tray appears hard up against the back of the cab, where as the airbornes seem to have had a spare wheel carrier put in between cab/tray like a CMP. The windscreen frame on the truck pictured also looks different than an airborne set up.

Cheers,
Ian.

[cliff]

Originally Posted by Ian Fawbert

Hi Cliff,

I think you might be right about it not being an airborne truck. The tray appears hard up against the back of the cab, where as the airbornes seem to have had a spare wheel carrier put in between cab/tray like a CMP. The windscreen frame on the truck pictured also looks different than an airborne set up.

Cheers,
Ian.

Ian the Aussie Airborne trucks were coverted 352 SWB models and not the usual LWB 353 trucks. It is hard to tell from that photo whether the truck is a LWB or SWB judged on the distance between the front and rear wheels. When I enlarge the photo it appears to have a roll bar type set up at the rear of the cab which could be a support for a canvas roof as per the trucks modified by Holden into Airbourne models.