The 1942 Qantas Short Empire shoot-down was an incident that occurred in the early days of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. A

Short Empire The Short Empire was a medium-range four-engined monoplane flying boat, designed and developed by Short Brothers during the 1930s to meet the requirements of the growing commercial airline sector, with a particular emphasis upon its usefulness ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

airliner, ''Corio'', operated by

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

was shot down 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 off the coast of

West Timor West Timor () is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The capital as well ...

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 ...

, on 30 January 1942, killing 13 of the occupants.

Aircraft history

''Corio'', named after

Corio, Victoria Corio () is a residential and industrial area, which forms one of the largest suburbs of Geelong, Victoria in Australia. It is located approximately 9 km north of the Geelong central business district. The area was formerly known as Cowie ...

, was built as an S.23 Empire by

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

and entered service with Qantas in October 1938 registered as VH-ABD then was sold to

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

in September 1939. The airliner, after being re-registered in the UK as G-AEUH, was then leased back to Qantas.

Air attack

On 30 January 1942, G-AEUH, captained by A. A. (Aub) Koch, left Darwin at dawn, for

Kupang Kupang (, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census, it had a population of 442,758;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as o ...

, en route to

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

, where it was to pick up refugees from the Japanese invasion of Java and transport them to Australia.Cassidy 2004, p. 164. When it was from West Timor, travelling at a height of , ''Corio'' was fired on by seven

Mitsubishi A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range 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) from 1940 to 1945. The ...

fighters.Gunn 1987, p. 44. Koch immediately increased the speed of the aircraft and dived it towards the coast, attempting to evade the attack; the aircraft reached its maximum speed – possibly – and flew a zig-zagging course, so low that the airliner's wing floats were bouncing off the sea. Nevertheless, the Zero pilots soon achieved numerous hits, perforating the fuselage and killing some passengers. Following a sudden loss of power when two engines caught fire, ''Corio'' hit the sea at high speed, nose first, from the mouth of the Noelmini River; the impact breaking the fuselage in half. Out of a total of 18 passengers and crew, 13 were killed in the attack. Koch, wounded in an arm and leg, was thrown out of the wreckage by the impact. However, he managed to swim ashore, a feat which took him three hours. Koch and the other survivors were later rescued by a

Dornier Do 24 The Dornier Do 24 is a 1930s German three-engine flying boat designed by the Dornier Flugzeugwerke for maritime patrol and search and rescue. A total of 279 were built among several factories from 1937 to 1945. Design and development The Dorni ...

flying boat of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

. Three passengers and two crew were saved. Koch later survived another attack by Japanese aircraft and the crash of another Empire flying boat. On 19 February 1942, while he was recuperating in Darwin Hospital, the town experienced two major air raids.Gunn 1987, p. 51. On 22 April 1943, Koch was piloting ''Camilla'', another Qantas Short Empire, on a flight from Australia to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, when it crashed in the sea off

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

in bad weather.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Cassidy, Brian
''Flying Empires: Short ‘C’ class Empire flying boats''
Bath UK: Queens Parade Press, 2004. Access date: 11 July 2010. * Gunn, John. ''Challenging Horizons: Qantas 1939–1954'', St Lucia Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Qantas Short Empire shoot-down Airliner shootdown incidents involving combat aircraft Aviation accidents and incidents in the Dutch East Indies 1942 in Australia Mass murder in 1942 1942 in Indonesia Aviation accidents and incidents in 1942 Aviation accidents and incidents in Indonesia Qantas accidents and incidents 20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents January 1942 in Asia 1942 disasters in Asia Accidents and incidents involving the Short Empire

Aircraft history

Air attack

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography