FLIGHTPATH | 67bat, only ten made it through to the end of
the war. In fact the four who didn't survive to
see peace, didn't even see the end of 1944.
Gordon White was the first to go when he
was killed in action on 8 August. He was
never rewarded for his three kills on 3 June.
The CO of 78 Squadron at the time, Squad-
ron Leader ‘Curly’ Brydon, tried on numer-
ous occasions to have a DFC conferred, but
it was never forthcoming. Next, Gadsden
and O'Connell were tragically killed, after
they had left the squadron, in a Wirraway
accident while based at 2 OTU, Mildura, Vic-
toria, on 25 October. Lastly, John Griffith
was killed in yet another unfortunate acci-
dent on 2 December when the bough of a
tree fell on the tent he was in, hitting him on
the head as he collected some photographs.
He was just a few weeks away from the end
of his tour and being posted home.
Of the fifteen Kittyhawks that took part
in the ‘The Big Do’, only six survived the war
to be scrapped at Oakey, Queensland. Un-
fortunately, two of the three P-40N-15s from
that day were unceremoniously disposed of
on 20 December 1945. A29-575 was burnt at
Tarakan and A29-576 was converted to
components. Between them, these two his-
toric Kittyhawks had claimed five Japanese
aircraft shot down.
The last remaining 78 Squadron pilot
from the 3 June 1944 combat, Bob Osment,
who led the squadron that day, passed away
in 2012 at the age of 91. The last links with
the historic day are now gone forever.
Sources: 78 Squadron Operations Re-
cord Book, Form A.50, Combat reports for
each of the 14 pilots of 78 Squadron, 78
Wing Narrative Reports, This Smuttee
Squadron - Gordon Clarke.
ABOVE: An artist’s impression of Yellow Section’s attack during ‘The Big Do’ on 3 June 1944. The foremost Kittyhawk is
‘Black Magic’ lown by F/L Baker (Yellow 1) and the smoking ‘Zero’ below him was his victim as he was the only one to
identify that enemy aircraft type. His wingman is F/Sgt Smith (Yellow 4) in A29-441 ‘Sportsman Special’. To the lower
left, F/L Griith (Yellow 2) in ‘Pistol Packin’ Mama’ is positioning himself to bring down his irst of two ighters. He would
later command A Flight when Baker was acting CO. Yellow Section was the only one of the four during the combat to
have each pilot claim an enemy aircraft destroyed, ending with a tally of four ighters, of which at least three were
‘Zeros’. [Mark Donaghue, Hangar 7 Art]BELOW: ‘Black Magic’ as lown by F/L Denny Baker in ‘The ‘Big Do’. Denny named the Kittyhawk a week or so before the
combat. He continued to ly it until he left the unit in January 1945. Note the blue bands on the spinner. The thin one
denotes A Flight and the blue tip indicates the light commander. [Juanita Franzi Aero Illustrations]BOTTOM: This P-40N-15 is depicted as lown by F/L Bob Osment during ‘The Big Do’. Photos from around this time show
it carried just the squadron code, but it was coded HU-O outside that period. Like Baker’s P-40, Osment selected this late
model Kittyhawk in May 1944 and lew it until leaving the squadron in July. His previous aircraft was A29-461 ‘The
Reaper’. [Juanita Franzi Aero Illustrations]