RAAF Tiger MothI already had a web page on this crash and at that stage I knew that the pilot, Captain "Hoot" Bevlock, had been killed in this crash and his passenger had bailed out safely. There was a suggestion that the Tiger Moth had collided with another aircraft.
I went through the photos I had received earlier in the week and found two photos of "Hoot" Bevlock and then to my amazement I found a photo of a Tiger Moth at Ross River Airfield in Townsville with the following caption written in pencil on the back of the photo:-
"Bill Bennett - standing. 'Hoot' Bevlock in Gypsy Moth, Ross River, Townsville, Aust. August 1942. 'Hoot' was killed in this plane same day picture was taken. Collided with a P-39 flown by Lt. Grover Gholson."
The above caption incorrectly stated that it was a Gypsy Moth and also stated that the crash was in August 1942 rather than on 10 September 1942. This caption did however confirm that the Tiger Moth had collided with a P-39 Airacobra piloted by Lt. Grover Gholson.
So this would have been the last photograph taken of "Hoot" Bevlock sitting in the Tiger Moth on the day that he was killed.
I have now added the new photos and added some more information about the crash to the following web site.
www.ozatwar.com/ozcrashes/qld133.htm
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