Shady Lady (aircraft)

"Shady Lady" was a Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft that set off from Darwin, Northern Territory on Friday, 13 August 1943 on what was at that time the world's longest ever bombing mission of WWII to the oil refineries at Balikpapan, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia, in the East Kalimantan province.

Shortly before running out of fuel on the return flight from the target, 'Shady Lady' was crash landed on a remote salt pan in Northern Western Australia after flying for 16 hours and 35 minutes. With help from the Aboriginal Community, 'Shady Lady' amazingly flew again.

380th Bombardment Group
'Shady Lady' was part of the 380th Bombardment Group which flew B-24 bombers in the South West and Western Pacific areas in WWII. Known as the FLYING CIRCUS and as the KING OF THE HEAVIES, the 380th Bombardment Group went overseas in April 1943 and was placed under the control of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and assigned to the Australian North West Area Command operating out of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

The 380th was placed under the control of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) command in Darwin.

Historical context
On 19 February 1942, 10 weeks after leading the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese bomber pilot Mitsuo Fuchida, flying from same aircraft carriers - attacked Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

The Japanese air raids on Darwin, often called the "Pearl Harbor of Australia" used more aircraft, sank more boats and dropped more bombs than at Pearl Harbor and dealt a psychological blow to the Australian population, just weeks after hostilities with Japan had begun.

Australia was determined to strike back and therefore welcomed the arrival to Australia in 1943, of the American 380th Bombardment Group and their long range Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber aircraft.

Mission
In evaluating how to strike back at the Japanese, RAAF intelligence knew that half of all lubricating oils used by the Japanese military and 60 percent of all their aviation gasoline came from refineries in Borneo. The target was hundreds of miles behind enemy lines which some believed would be impossible to reach. After carrying out many long range test flights using newly developed long range cruise techniques to increase range, the mission was approved.

‘Shady Lady’ with a crew of 10 and one RAAF photographer, was one of 11 bombers that chased the setting sun westward, past Timor, into heavily defended enemy territory. The crew of ‘Shady Lady’ under the command of First Lieutenant Doug Craig, had a hazardous journey to the target. Flying through numerous tropical thunderstorms that caused severe turbulence and greatly hampered the ability of navigator John Nash to carry out celestial navigation.

Nine of the 11 aircraft that set off arrived individually at their target. Two turned back due to bad weather on the outbound flight sector. ‘Shady Lady’ was the last to arrive and tasked with not only attacking the target but to also photograph it. On her journey back to base, more tropical thunderstorms threatened to tear the wings off ‘Shady Lady’. At dawn the ‘Shady Lady’ crew realised they were miles off course and had no choice but to overfly a main Japanese air base in Timor, if they had any chance of getting back to Australia alive. Two Japanese fighters intercepted ‘Shady Lady’, but after an hour-long dogfight which rendered most of the guns on 'Shady Lady' inoperative, ‘Shady Lady’ finally escaped and headed for Australia.

Crash landing and rescue
With fuel all but gone and running on empty, the aircraft was in a dire situation. The aircraft commander was preparing to ditch the aircraft when the northern coast of Australia was sighted.

With just minutes of fuel remaining, the commander spotted a saltpan near the coast and prepared the crew for an emergency landing.

The commander had to land the aircraft in impossible circumstances, with no second chances. Apart from the nose wheel collapsing and the resulting damage to the front of the aircraft on landing, there were incredibly, no serious injuries.

It was 0945 hrs, sixteen hours and thirty-five minutes since their departure from Darwin. This had become the longest ever bombing mission ever carried out to that day.

Miles from anywhere, the crew and aircraft had to now be rescued. Radio contact was eventually established with Darwin and provided the stranded airmen with the hope of rescue the following afternoon. This hope materialized in the form of Father Seraphim Sanz, the priest at a local mission.

A new race against time had started. The saltpan where ‘Shady Lady’ had landed was due to flood soon as the season changed. Engineers were brought in to make temporary repairs to the aircraft in extreme conditions of heat, little water, and limited facilities. This was one of Australia’s harshest locations. Under constant attack from thousands of sandfly crews worked around the clock to fix and lighten the aircraft by removing unnecessary parts such as armament and ammunition.

New parts and fuel had to brought to ‘Shady Lady’ and this was done by Indigenous Australians who carried them over very difficult terrain for tens of miles. With only days to spare, ‘Shady Lady’ was finally pushed back and prepared for what sadly became her final take-off.

‘Shady Lady’ was never to fly again in combat, too badly damaged from the crash landing.

Crash site
The site where ‘Shady Lady’ landed is today an Australian Heritage Site and in the Australian Heritage Database with parts of the aircraft still there and the tracks from her landing still visible, frozen in time due to the geological features of the area.

Presidential Citation
Mrs Alice Craig the wife of the commander Doug Craig was presented in August 2011, with a Presidential Citation by Major Christopher M Westhoff, US Marine Attaché in Canberra. The citation was issued to Mrs Craig in Australia, days before she visited the site where 'Shady Lady' crash landed for the first time on 14 August 2011, 68 years to the day after 'Shady Lady' had crash landed there.

Documentary
A British documentary film about 'Shady Lady', entitled Shady Lady, was due for release Nov. 9, 2012.

Principal photography started in August 2011 in Australia. Filming took place in Australia, the U.S., and England, and was completed in January 2012.

In flight sequences for the film were filmed using a B-24 owned by the The Collings Foundation.