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The crash site of the 100 Squadron Beaufort aircraft was discovered in 2020, with divers returning to reach the aircraft.
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The Department of Defence has today (10 April) confirmed that four missing crew members onboard an A9-186 Beaufort aircraft were discovered after 79 years, south of Gasmata in Papua New Guinea.
The flight was originally reported missing in 1943, alongside crew members Warrant Officer Clement Batstone Wiggins, Warrant Officer Russell Henry Grigg, Flight Sergeant Albert Beckett, and Flight Sergeant Gordon Lewis Hamilton.
Ocean Ecology located the site, having been contracted by Dr Andrew Forrest to locate his uncle who was lost in a similar 100 Squadron Beaufort.
The team returned to the crash two years later, accompanied by members of the RAAF Directorate of Historical Unrecovered War Casualties to investigate the crash.
Despite support from anthropologists and DNA specialists, Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Chipman announced that the remains of Flight Sergeant Albert Beckett and Flight Sergeant Gordon Hamilton could not be located.
“The aircraft identity plate and cockpit lever were recovered from the site and will be returned to Australia under a permit granted by the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG),” AIRMSHL Chipman said.
“Small amounts of bone material recovered during the identification mission were analysed by anthropologists and DNA specialists. The RAAF’s HUWC team collated the evidence and a Defence Identification Board identified the remains as those of Warrant Officer Clement Batstone Wiggins and Warrant Officer Russell Henry Grigg.”
AIRMSHL Chipman announced that the RAAF will continue to find and recover missing aviators, with families of the four crew members invited to a memorial service at RAAF Base Amberley on 26 April.
Forrest said that it was important to remember the sacrifices of Australians in previous conflicts.
“We must never forget the sacrifices these young men and women made. They had their entire lives ahead of them yet were prepared to risk it all to defend our country and our way of life,” Forrest said.
Liam Garman
Editor – Defence and Security, Momentum Media
