Mitchell River Airfield

Mitchell River Mission

In 1942, civil aviation services throughout Cape York used a landing area (DCA Landing Ground No 516) near Mitchell River Mission. This site provided light aircraft access for minor RAAF interest in the area. The most significant of which was the installation of a radar station (No 320), nearby.

While this landing area never compared with the many developed and frequently used throughout the State during WW2, its proximity to a well documented USAAF B-17 Bomber recovery meant that it became better known. This particular recovery called Mitchell River Mission residents, particularly large numbers of Aboriginals at the centre, into great prominence at the time even though newspaper censorship masked location and identities.

Place information

Location

Magnificent Creek

Kowanyama, QLD 4871

Open in Google maps

Place type

Airfield

History

The WW2 history of major bases, not just in Queensland, is frequently peppered not just with day to day operational matters, but also with inevitable crashes, often fatal. The opportunity to cover in pictorial detail an overland mission of some hundreds of kilometres both by train (several trucks on board) and beyond over poor roads and often, NO ROAD OR TRACK, was most enticing.

In an extract from QAWW2 page 42 …"'Blacks save Big Plane.' So stated the Brisbane 'Sunday Mail' newspaper, 3 January 1943. In a 5 'column inch' report hampered by the censorship of the day, the 'Sunday Mail'...

Suggest an edit

Copy Link