An Article by Tom Derham.
Shortly after my arrival in TPNG and posting to 1 PIR as the 2IC of the Education Section at Taurama Barracks, I was stationed in the Officers Mess along with several RAAF Officers. In late August 1972, on the day that a Caribou flying out of Lae had gone missing, I was invited by the RAAF Officers to join them in the large search effort that was already underway.
At first light next morning we flew out of Port Moresby in a Caribou, initially bound for Bulolo Airfield that was located in the Morobe District south of Lae. It was from here that the main search effort was being coordinated. Following our deployment, we took off again to systematically cover our assigned part of the search area.
Within the aircraft there were dramatic scenes with servicemen attached to long harnesses, sitting on the edge of the lowered rear loading ramp, looking down intently into the jungle directly below them. Sometimes the aircraft seemed to be only metres above the treetops, and many times the aircraft would skim over the crest of high ridges, occasionally with a small villages on the peak, only to be caught up in massive hot air updrafts that would fling the Caribou skyward!
It was a long day of searching as we systematically criss-crossed the mountainous areas around Wau and Bulolo for over nine hours. Unfortunately, we had no success in finding the missing aircraft.
Three days after I was involved with the search, I heard that four Cadets had been sighted in a river bed in the Kudjeru Gap area near Wau. After being picked up they lead the rescue team back to the crash site. When helicopter crews arrived at the crash site, the jungle was so dense they could hardly see the Caribou on the jungle floor below them. The only visible evidence of the crash from above were some broken branches in the jungle canopy.
This tragic accident claimed many lives and was a massive shock to Defence Force members and their families. The Territory as a whole mourned the loss of the young high school students and the older RAAF and Army staff traveling on that flight.
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Heavy Loss of Life in PNG Accident
(http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/HistoryRecord/HistoryRecordDetail.aspx?rid=532)
Caribou Crash Site 1972
The crash of a DHC-4 Caribou in Papua New Guinea on this day was probably the most tragic accident in RAAF history. Aircraft A4-233, one of a pair of Caribous detached semi-permanently from No 38 Squadron, was returning PNG school cadets from their annual training camp when it went missing on a flight from Lae to Port Moresby . Despite a large-scale air search, it was not until three days later that four schoolboy survivors were located, having attempted to walk out for assistance. They were able to direct rescuers to the crash site at Kudjeru Gap, near Wau, and a fifth schoolboy was winched out of the thick jungle, only to die later. The Caribou’s crew of three, plus a ground liaison officer from the Army, and 21 school cadets had all been killed in the disaster.
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RAAF Remembers Worst Peacetime Crash
(From: AAP August 28, 2012 12:40PM )
FORTY years ago an RAAF Caribou transport aircraft crashed into a Papua New Guinea hillside, killing its Australian crew and most of its passengers, high school students coming home from a cadet camp.
The RAAF’s worst peacetime air crash on August 28, 1972, claimed the lives of 25 of the 29 on board.
The crash has now been remembered at a commemorative service at Port Moresby ‘s De La Salle High School, where most of the cadets lost in the tragedy studied.
Air force chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown said on Tuesday the aircraft, Caribou number A4-233, had been returning the students and instructors to Port Moresby following an Australian Army School Cadet Camp in Lae.
“We believe poor weather forced the crew to retrace their route back through the Kudjeru Gap,” he said in a statement.
“But the aircraft’s starboard wing impacted with treetops on a ridge line.
“After three days of searching, rescuers discovered five surviving cadets. However one survivor later died in hospital.”
Air Marshal Brown said the Caribou’s crew included Flight Lieutenant Graham Thomas, Pilot Officer Gregory Ebsary and Corporal Gary Power.
Captain Robert Loftus, a ground liaison officer with the Australian army, also died in the accident.
The aircraft was part of a 38 Squadron detachment operating Caribou aircraft in Port Moresby until PNG’s independence in 1975.
To mark this anniversary, members of the Australian High Commission plus representatives of 38 Squadron attended the memorial service.
Air Marshal Brown said it was humbling for Australian Defence Force members to join the PNG community.
“We are bonded in our grief,” he said.
“The Defence members on board the Caribou made the ultimate sacrifice whilst serving the Papua New Guinea community.
“The tragedy of their death is compounded by the loss of so many young lives.”
Postscript by Greg Ivey
Captain Loftus was buried at Taurama Military Cemetery, outside Port Moresby. On 25 September 2013, the Port Moresby Sub-Branch of the RSL of Australia conducted a re-dedication Service at the grave of Captain Loftus and at several other Australian graves so far identified at Taurama Military Cemetery.
On 20 June 2015, our Association also paid tribute to Captain Loftus and another twelve Australian Servicemen who died serving in TPNG between 1951 and 1973. On this day at Broadbeach, QLD, we commemorated all the deceased indigenous and Australian servicemen who operated in TPNG during or after the Second World War. That Service was held to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the official formation of the Papuan Infantry Battalion in June 1940 (see the summary on the Events Page of this website).
Our Association asked Nasho Terry Edwinsmith to lay the Wreath honouring these 13 Australian Servicemen, including those killed in the Caribou crash of 1972.
 Terry Edwinsmith lays a wreath on behalf of the Association |
 Honouring the Fallen PIB 75th Anniversary |
Below are photos of the graves of some of those Servicemen at Taurama Military Cemetery.
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For further articles on the crash follow these links:
- A Military Disaster 1972
- Caribou Crash 50th Anniversary Memorial by Asi Pako, the sister of survivor Patrick Tau Gau
- The Air Force pays tribute. (Reproduced with permission from TRIBUTE The Newsletter of the Military Historical Society Australia, Queensland Division and its source CONTACT)