Looking down on parts of aircraft wreckage in shallow water.

Broome Flying Boats, 1942

Published

4 October 2022

Last Updated

7 December 2022

Aircraft

15 flying boats

Operators

Marine Luchtvaartdienst (Netherlands Naval Aviation Service)
United States Navy
Royal Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
Q.A.N.T.A.S Empire Airways

Departed

Lake Grati, Lengkong, Teloengagoeng, and Tjilatja, Java

Destination

Perth or Sydney

Wrecked

3 March 1942, Roebuck Bay, Broome

Protection

WA Heritage Act 2018

History

At the commencement of the Second World War, Indonesia was still under Dutch colonial rule. Initially, the Netherlands adopted a policy of neutrality, and tacitly relied on Great Britain and the United States of America to defend the Netherlands East Indies (NIE) if required. In December 1941, following Japanese attacks on British and American bases in Asia and the Pacific, the Netherlands joined its allies and declared war on Japan.

Following the declaration, Japanese forces made rapid advancements across Southeast Asia. By January 1942, they had landed troops in Dutch-controlled Borneo, Sumatra, and Maluku, and forced Allied troops to progressively retreat to Java. Expecting further encroachments, in February 1942, Dutch civilians began evacuating out of Java. An ‘air bridge’ was established that, over a two-week period, evacuated 8,000 Dutch out of NIE to Perth and Sydney, via Broome. Normally, Darwin would have been the stopover port, but after an aircraft carrying evacuees was shot down in January 1942 and the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942, it was no longer a viable option.

Broome was not ideally suited to be the main refuelling stopover. There were no moorings and extreme tidal conditions meant the flying boats needed to anchor far from the shore. There were also limited fuelling facilities in Broome, meaning the flying boats were often waylaid.

Broome air raid, 1942

On 3 March 1942, six Allied aircraft were parked at the Broome airstrip and 15 flying boats were anchored in Roebuck Bay, Broome. The flying boats had flown in from Java and were packed with Dutch evacuees. While some of the crew were ashore, the evacuees remained on board, since there was limited accommodation available in the town.

At 9:30am, a squadron of nine Japanese Zero A6M fighters, accompanied by a Mitsubishi Ki-15 reconnaissance aircraft, strafed the harbour and airstrip in a surprise attack. The fuelled flying boats exploded in fireballs and sank. Those who survived the initial gunfire were then exposed to burning fuel and oil on the water, and sharks. Remaining survivors were eventually picked up using small boats, sometimes after they had been pulled out to sea by the tide. Many Broome residents actively tried to save the people trapped in the sinking aircraft and provided shelter and aid in the aftermath.

In just 20 minutes, 21 allied aircraft were burning on the Broome airstrip or sinking in Roebuck Bay. Two other allied aircraft were also lost. A United States Army Air Force Consolidated B-24A Liberator, which had taken off from the airfield as the raid started, was shot down and crashed into the sea, about 10km off Cable Beach; and a Dutch Douglas DC.3 flying from Java to Broome, which was shot down over Carnot Bay when it encountered the departing Japanese Zeros. It is estimated that about 100 Dutch evacuees and Dutch, British and American military personnel died in the raid, but the exact numbers are not known.

Two rows of white crosses at the head of graves demarcated with small rocks.

Dutch Cemetery in Broome, 1948.

Credit: State Library of Western Australia, 022592PD

WA Museum fieldwork in Broome, from the documentary series ‘Shipwreck Detectives’, 2001.

Credit: Prospero Productions

Flying boats destroyed in the raid

During the raid, 15 flying boats were destroyed:

Aircraft	Operator
Dornier Do-24K (X1)	Marine Luchtvaartdienst (Netherlands Naval Aviation Service)
Dornier Do-24K (X3)	Marine Luchtvaartdienst (MLD)
Dornier Do-24K (X20)	MLD
Dornier Do-24K (X23)	MLD
Dornier Do-24K (X28)	MLD
PBY-4 Catalina #6	United States Navy (USN)
PBY-4 Catalina #7	USN
PBY-5 Catalina FV-N	Royal Air Force (RAF)
PBY-5 Catalina FV-W	RAF
PBY-5 Catalina (Y59)	MLD
PBY-5 Catalina (Y60)	MLD
PBY-5 Catalina (Y67)	MLD
PBY-5 Catalina (Y70)	MLD
Short Empire (A 18-10)	Royal Australian Air Force
Short Empire (Corinna)	QANTAS Empire Airways

Tangled, metal aircraft wreckage on the sand.

Wreckage of an Allied aircraft destroyed in the bombing of Broome, 1943.

Credit: State Library of Western Australia, 4689B/37C

The tragic irony of this incident is that Japanese Commander Shibata had only ordered strikes on military infrastructure. Broome was hit during the strafing runs, however, the primary targets were the Allied aircraft on the airstrip and in the harbour. The Japanese Imperial Navy did not know that there were over 80 evacuees spread among nine of the flying boats and that they were killing civilians.

Aircraft wrecks

Many flying boat wreck sites have been located in Roebuck Bay, but not all can be conclusively linked to specific aircraft. Identification of the wrecks is complicated by the considerable salvage effort conducted immediately after the raid, to retrieve guns for reuse in the defence of Broome, and later to clear the harbour for planned infrastructure.

Broome has significant tidal variation. Water depth can vary as much as 9.5 metres from high to low spring tides. Of the 15 flying boats, six were wrecked in locations that are exposed or partially exposed on spring low tide (drying and semi-drying sites) and nine were wrecked in deeper water. The locations of the six drying and semi-drying sites are known, but only two deep water wreck sites have been relocated.

Map of Broome and Roebuck Bay, sites marked with red circles.

Chart showing the known wreck and debris sites in Roebuck Bay.

Credit: WA Museum

Flying boat wreck sites, parts, and debris fields

Drying and semi-drying wreck sites

Dornier Do-24K (X23)
Dornier Do-24K (X1)
PBY-5 Catalina (FV-N)
PBY-5 Catalina (Y59)
Unidentified PBY-5 Catalina
Unidentified Catalina

Deep water wreck sites, parts, and debris fields

Unidentified PBY-5 Catalina
Unidentified PBY-5 Catalina
Dornier Do-24K (X23) (wing strut)
Unidentified Catalina (tail)
Unidentified Dornier-Do-24K (wing)
Unidentified Short Empire (wing)
Dornier Do-24K (X20 debris field)
Unidentified debris field

Many of the drying sites were recorded by local diver Geoff Parker, and later WAM technical officer Geoff Kimpton in the mid-to-late 1990s. They recorded the drying sites using Global Positioning Systems (GPS), wrote site descriptions, and drew plans of the aircraft wrecks. During one of his visits, Parker recovered a sextant in its box from the sediment on one of the drying Catalina wrecks. Parker also recorded an unidentified Short Empire in deep water.

A piece of aviation navigation equipment with signs of corrosion.

Sextant found by Parker, who correctly predicted it would be under the navigator's seat.

Credit: WA Museum, BAC46

WA Museum expeditions, 1991-2021

1991

The WA Museum organised the first remote sensing survey of the area, which was conducted by Associated Surveys International in 1991. Two possible targets were found during the side scan sonar survey.

Three people hunched over a printer in a protective crate.

Associated Surveys International staff aboard MV San Pedro Sound, looking at the print-outs from the side scan sonar survey, 1991.

Credit: WA Museum, BAW/60

1996

In 1996, Fugro Survey conducted a follow-up side scan sonar survey in a different area to locate targets that represented wreckage more than one metre in length or areas of seabed with numerous pieces of wreckage. The survey data produced five deep water targets.

Area covered by survey and horizontal lines show the movement of the vessel.

Chart showing the search area and targets from the 1996 side scan sonar survey.

Credit: Fugro Survey | WA Museum

2001

A side scan sonar survey conducted in June 2001 produced several targets, which were position fixed with GPS and marked with buoys for later inspection by divers.

Select drying and deep-water wreck sites were inspected, with some limited surface recovery and test excavations undertaken. The sites included:

Dornier and Catalina wreck sites, both at about six to eight metres depth and with good visibility
Catalina and Short Empire wreck sites, both at about 15-20 metres depth and with less than one metre visibility.

WA Museum Department of Conservation conducted a pre-disturbance survey ahead of the excavations and measured corrosion levels on the wrecks. The deep-water Catalina wreck site was fairly complete with propellor and both wings present. A surface collection was conducted in the cockpit area and a number of items were recovered.

Worn-down fork, with Y59 engraved in the handle.

Fork recovered during a test excavation of the drying Catalina wreck site. Engraved with the serial number of the aircraft it belonged to, this fork conclusively identified the wreck as the PBY-5 Catalina Y-59 flown by Marine Luchtvaartdienst (MLD).

Credit: WA Museum, BAC30

2021

Between 8 and 20 September 2021, the WA Museum surveyed and inspected the flying boat wreck sites, conducted a side scan sonar survey in new areas, and inspected newly identified targets. This fieldwork was undertaken in collaboration with Terra Australis Productions and VAM Media, as part of the Disney+ documentary series ‘Shipwreck Hunters Australia’.

The expedition resulted in the discovery and identification of a new site, the port wing and engine of a Dornier Do-24K flying boat, built in the 1930s and operated in the Dutch East Indies by the Marine Luchtvaartdienst (MLD). Of the five MLD Dornier Do-24K flying boats known to have been lost in the Broome air raid (numbered X1, X3, X20, X23, and X28), this was the third wreck site to be located. The two previously located Dornier wrecks were positively identified as X1 and X23. However, further archaeological investigations are required to identify the newly found aircraft wreck site.

Deteriorated parts of a flying boat, partially buried in wet sand.

Aerial view of Dornier Do-24K (X23) wreck in Broome, 2021.

Credit: Silvano Jung | WA Museum

This newly discovered site lies within the protected ‘Flying Boat Wreckage Site’ heritage area.

Learn about the other wreck sites featured on 'Shipwreck Hunters Australia'.

Drone footage of the Dutch Dornier Do-24K (X23) in Roebuck Bay, recorded during production of ‘Shipwreck Hunters Australia’, 2021.
Credit: WA Museum

Protection

Due to the accessible location of the drying sites, unauthorised salvage has been common, with engines and other materials removed for exhibition around Broome. The deep-water sites remained relatively intact, even as awareness of them increased in the 1980s. The poor underwater visibility and large tidal range at Roebuck Bay served as deterrents to many. However, the first known unauthorised recovery of artefacts (a machine gun and child’s doll) from a deep-water site occurred in 1989.

The Broome Historical Society had long been concerned about the unauthorised removal of artefacts from the wreck sites and requested assistance from the WA Museum to protect the sites. The flying boat wreck sites were not covered by State or Commonwealth maritime archaeology legislation and, while there may have been human remains among the wrecks, war graves legislation did not cover submerged sites.

In the early 1990s, a temporary protection framework was developed under air navigation and customs regulations, which prohibited entry to crash sites, the removal of material from wrecked aircraft, and the importing of aircraft parts without a permit. This was eventually superseded in 2002, when a Conservation Order was declared for the ‘Flying Boat Wreckage Site’, giving the wrecks legal protections under the Heritage of Western Australia Act 1990. The site was listed on the state Register of Heritage Places in 2003. Today, the wreck sites remain protected under the Heritage Act 2018.