Kookaburra Crash site

80 miles ESE of Wave Hill
APPROX. 18°LAT. 132° LONG.
These were the early site descriptions

Scroll down here

http://keithandersonaviator.blogspot.com.au/

And this one has the location


http://mosman1914-1918.net/project/blog/keith-anderson-memorial
Cheers
Mike

Hello

Not that relevant to question but from what I have read the plane didn't "crash" - it was a "forced landing".

Happy travels.

Cheers
Greg

Guys,
This is a photo of the replica of the aeroplane which uses some parts Dick salvaged in the early 80's.
It lives on his property near Gundaroo.

Next time I get a chance I'll ask him for the GPS co-ords of the exact location.
Gazza

Hi Alan,

Can't help you with your first question but when I worked in the Alice in the early 70's I came across an old fellow that told me a story of a failed trip into the Tanami to retrieve an old aeroplane.

They left from somewhere around Elliott. They had endless punctures and had to drain the radiator water each night and heat it in the morning to get the vehicle going. Always wondered why they would use a British 2 wheel drive light truck when there were plenty of 4 x 4 International and ex World War II trucks around. Now I realise he was talking 30-40 years back and I think the plane would have been the Kooaburra.

From the the late 70's through to the late 90's I hauled fuel out of Darwin to some pretty remote stations and out stations. One of interest to you would be Wave Hill Station. I would drop off 2 tankers, leave 2 compartments of diesel on my lead trailer and go south east to Cattle Creek, pump 1 out and use the other for ballast to get back. Fair bit of sand and dry season only.

Talking to one of the ringers and he told me they had bores a fair way south from Cattle Creek and one south east called Kookaburra.

This might put you within striking distance of your target. Remember from where the plane landed to where it's remains were found may be quite a distance.

Regards,
Dave

Gday Alan,

That will be another interesting trip for you. Not sure if you've seen it but Les Hiddins did a 30min doco on the Kookaburra story in his series "Stories of Survival" which is on Youtube. I found it pretty interesting.

Cheers
Tony

Hi Alan,

This is a scanned image from the book Kookaburra by Pedr Davis and Dick Smith (Lansdowne Books 1980).



From the text:

'Draw a line from the old Wave Hill station over the blow-hole and straight out. The truck's odometer had shown 23 miles and if we scale this off along the line, it will show us where the Kookaburra is. In other words, we should combine Lester Brain's directions with the truck odometer distance readings. we drew the line 23 miles out and allowed a mile for probable wheel slip"

After the wreck was discovered:

It was exactly as Lester Brain had said, in line with Wave hill station and the blow-hole and 21.5 miles from the blow hole."

Lester Brain was the pilot that originally found the Kookaburra and was still alive when Dick Smith started his search.

Blow hole 17 deg 48'S 131 deg 42'E

Kookaburra 17 deg 56'S 131 deg 58' E



Graeme

Hi I went to the crash site a few yrs ago I drove down from Stuart bore on wave hill stations southern fence. First I drove over to the sink hole mentioned by dick smith then from there headed south east to the crash site. There is no road to the.crash site.you must drive threw quite over grown country and some areas that have been burn out and many standing dead wood which can potentially tear your tyres to bits. The crash site is about 3 kms or so north of Anderson's corner.