On 3 March 1942, PK-AFV, a Douglas DC-3-194 airliner operated by

KNILM Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij (in English: Royal Dutch Indies Airways) was the flag carrier of the former Dutch East Indies. Headquartered in Amsterdam, KNILM was ''not'' a subsidiary of the better-known Koninklijke L ...

, was shot down over Western Australia by

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The (IJNAS) was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired its first aircraft in ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

, resulting in the deaths of four passengers and the loss of

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

s worth an estimated

A£ The pound (Currency symbol, sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 Shilling (Australian ...

150,000300,000, equivalent to in . It is believed that the diamonds were stolen after the crash, although no one has ever been convicted of stealing them. The PK-AFV ''Pelikaan'' was on a flight from

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

(later Indonesia), to

Broome, Western Australia Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru, Yawuru people, is a coastal Pearl hunting, pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The town recorded a population of 14,6 ...

when it was attacked by

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

aircraft that were carrying out an

attack on Broome The town of Broome, Western Australia, Broome, Western Australia, was attacked by Japanese fighter planes on 3 March 1942, during World War II. At least 88 civilians and Allied military personnel were killed. Although Broome was a small mother ...

. PK-AFV crash-landed on a beach at Carnot Bay, north of Broome. The ''Pelikaan'' was initially registered as PH-ALP and had been operated by KLM since 25 August 1937. It was based in the Netherlands. On 10 May 1940, while the ''Pelikaan'' was en route to Asia,

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

forces invaded the Netherlands. PK-AFV was transferred to Royal Netherlands Indies Airways (KNILM) and re-registered as PK-AFV. The aircraft is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

or Douglas Dakota, which were names given to the military variant of the DC-3.

Final flight

On 3 March 1942, the pilot of PK-AFV was a Russian World War I

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

, Ivan Smirnov (or Smirnoff). The other three crew members were co-pilot Jo Hoffman, radio operator Jo Muller and flight engineer Blaauw. They were transporting eight passengers, fleeing the Japanese invasion of Java. Among the passengers were five pilots from the army and navy. A package containing diamonds, which belonged to a Bandung firm named NV de Concurrent, was handed to Smirnov in the early morning of 3 March by Wisse, the KNILM station manager at Andir Bandung airport. Smirnov was instructed to hand the package to a representative of the

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of fi ...

once he reached Australia. He was reportedly unaware of the package contents at the time. The plane was airborne at 1:15am. At about 9:00am, as the DC-3 neared Broome, skirting the Kimberley coast, three

Mitsubishi Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

esled by the Japanese ace Lt Zenjiro Miyanowere returning to their base in

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

, after the first air raid on Broome. Smirnov was following the coastline towards Broome. The Japanese pilots, who were at a higher altitude than the DC-3, dived at it and fired at its port side, scoring numerous hits. The port engine caught fire and Smirnov was wounded in his arms and hip, but managed to put the aircraft into a steep spiral dive. Smirnoff made a wheels-down landing on the beach, according to his 1947 book (). This procedure was described in many interviews in papers and on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

in 1944. Smirnoff was surprised the wheels went down. While rolling along the ground, the right tire was hit and exploded causing the plane to make an abrupt right turn into the surf and deeper water. The splash extinguished the fire in the number one engine. This story is consistent with the stories told by surviving passengers Pieter Cramerus in a video interview and Leo Vanderburg in "Flight of Diamonds" by William H Tyler in 1986. A photograph in Smirnof's book on pages 72 and 73 shows that the undercarriage under engine 1 is down. The Zeroes then

strafe Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such a ...

d the DC-3. The flight engineer and three passengers, including a baby, were killed and others seriously injured by bullets. Smirnov reported that the package was dropped in the water or in the plane during a recovery attempt by Van Romondt. The following day, as the survivors awaited a rescue party, a Japanese

Kawanishi H6K The Kawanishi H6K was an Imperial Japanese Navy flying boat produced by the Kawanishi Aircraft Company and used during World War II for maritime patrol duties. The Allied reporting name for the type was Mavis; the Navy designation was . Develo ...

flying boat spotted the wreck and dropped two bombs. The Kawanishi later returned and dropped another two bombs. None of the bombs caused any damage or injuries. The surviving passengers and crew were saved after spending six days on the beach. A mariner from Broome named Jack Palmer, arrived at the scene of the crash, a couple of days after the rescue. He later handed in over

£A The pound (Currency symbol, sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 Shilling (Australian ...

20,000 worth of diamonds. In May 1943, Palmer and two associates, James Mulgrue and Frank Robinson, were tried in the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of or more ...

for theft of the diamonds. All three were acquitted. No other person has been tried for the loss of the diamonds.

Notes

General references

* * *

References

External links

ozatwar.com (Peter Dunn), "C-47 Dakota Shot Down by Japanese Aircraft after Japanese Bombing Raid on Broome Harbour £300,000 Worth of Diamonds Missing on 3 March 1942" (2000)

Museum of Western Australia, "Zero Hour & Carnot Bay; The Carnot Bay Episode"
{{DEFAULTSORT:KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown Airliner shootdown incidents involving combat aircraft Mass murder in 1942 1942 in Australia Aviation accidents and incidents in Western Australia Aviation accidents and incidents in 1942 Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-3 KNILM accidents and incidents 20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents 1940s in Western Australia March 1942 in Australia

Final flight

See also

Notes

General references

References

External links