page_title: Charles Raymond Gurney
section_title: Final flight
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Raymond Gurney / Final flight
caption_attribution_description: Martin B-26B Marauder (s/n 41-17704).
context_page_description: Charles Raymond Gurney, AFC was an Australian aviator who was involved in pioneering aviation in New Guinea in the 1930s. He flew with Qantas before and during the Second World War, and served with the Royal Australian Air Force from September 1939. He was killed on operations against the Japanese in the south west Pacific in 1942 flying with the United States Army Air Forces.
  In his aviation career "Bob" Gurney was chief pilot of Guinea Airways, a Qantas flying boat captain and a Squadron Leader in the RAAF, who even had to bomb his own home. In commemoration of his service an airport in Papua New Guinea and a street in Townsville, Queensland are named after him.
context_section_description: On 2 May 1942, Gurney was co-pilot in B-26 Marauder no. 40-1426 (built by Martin), with Christian "Chris" Herron as the USAAF pilot.  They took off, with a crew of seven, from Kila Kila Airfield near Port Moresby, New Guinea, on a bombing mission against Simpson Harbour off Rabaul, New Britain in this particular aircraft’s first combat mission.  Somehow, on the way to Rabaul, their aircraft became separated from the rest of the raid, so when they arrived over Simpson Harbour late, they were on their own and the Japanese were ready for them.  Nonetheless, they pressed on with the mission alone.  Over the target, one engine was hit by anti-aircraft fire, so they departed the area on only one engine, gradually losing altitude.  Herron took refuge in a brewing storm, but struggled to stay airborne.  The crew was instructed to jettison anything they could to bring stability to the aircraft.  They then managed to fly almost three hundred miles towards friendly territory.
  As they approached the Trobriand Islands, Herron knew that they would not make it to a landing strip, and that he should let friendly forces know of their location and need to attempt an emergency landing.  Gurney knew that enemy forces would be listening to such broadcasts, so suggested the message: "Making a forced landing where Francine used to live."  The staff at Port Moresby knew, along with Gurney, that a woman named Francine had previously lived on Kiriwina Island, the largest in the Trobriands, so were able to send a rescue mission to the right area.
  Prior to attempting an emergency landing, the crew was advised to bail out; when they refused, they were told to secure themselves in the rear of the aircraft.  The five crewmen wedged themselves tightly together with cushions in the rear compartment, with Herron and Gurney remaining in the cockpit.
  Instead of the normal emergency procedure of a belly landing, pilot Herron attempted a conventional wheels-down landing on a patch of flat terrain that "looked like a meadow" on the southern end of the island.  Whilst he was successful in executing the three-point landing, the appearance of flat, solid ground on Kiriwina turned out to be deceptive; it was actually a bog. The nose wheel ploughed into the marsh, the front strut ripped loose, and the Plexiglas nose of the Marauder buried itself in the muck, causing the bomber to flip over onto its back.
  The five crewmen emerged from a hatch in the bomber's belly, shaken but unhurt apart from a bruised shoulder.  Herron called from the upside-down cockpit to check that the crew had survived.  Having waded waist-deep through the swamp, the crew found Gurney already dead, and Herron trapped in the cockpit filling with water as it sank into the mud.  Despite their efforts, Herron drowned before they could pull him free from the wreckage.  They said a prayer and covered the cockpit with Herron’s parachute.
  Sure enough, the rescue party in a Catalina had received Gurney’s message regarding their landing location.  They landed on the water near Samarai, and were told by an Australian Soldier on board a Lakatoi that Francine was the daughter of a French Missionary who had lived on Kiriwina.  They headed off to the island to find the five survivors on 3 May, with confirmation that both Gurney and Herron were dead.  The crew were transported to Port Moresby and returned to duty.
caption: B-26 Marauder
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