Beautiful Betsy – A Liberator Lost
By Greg Corbett, Visitor Services Assistant, Anzac Square Memorial Galleries | 20 February 2023
Garrad, Janette. Photographs of B-24D Liberator “Beautiful Betsy” crash site (0001-0005). Brisbane: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, 1996. Print.
US B-24 Liberator bomber ‘Beautiful Betsy’ went missing in February 1945, with eight lives lost. One of the veteran planes of its unit, in the latter years of the war Beautiful Betsy had been pensioned off active service and was used to transport fresh fruit, ice cream, alcohol and live poultry.
Sergeant Lemons, Flying Officer Cannon and Lieutenant Owen were among the men on board Beautiful Betsy. (The Canberra Times 1994)
The Liberator was on a night flight from Darwin to Brisbane with six American crew members - Lieutenants McDaniel, Routt, Owen and Kilcheski, and Sergeants Lemons and Tucker. Also on board were two RAF Spitfire pilots, who are said to have joined the flight at the last moment. One of the men, Flying Officer Cannon, was to have been married to aircraftwoman Daphne Studders of Brisbane and the other, Flight Lieutenant Cook, was to have been his best man at a wedding planned for 3 March.
Daphne Studders (pictured left) had been engaged to marry Flying Officer Cannon. (The Courier-Mail 1944)
Despite many search attempts, the Liberator was not found until 1994, when Queensland National Parks and Wildlife ranger Mark Roe happened upon the wreckage while conducting a controlled burn in Kroombit Tops National Park, around 150km from Gladstone. Damage to the propellers suggested the plane had been spinning when the crash occurred, and personal effects that identified all personnel, including what appeared to be a wedding ring, were found at the site.
Daphne Studders and her sister Lorna were prominent equestriennes. (The Telegraph 1940)
While she was destined not to marry Flying Officer Cannon, Daphne Studders went on to work as secretary for the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service after the war, appearing numerous times in the media during appeals for blood donations. She was also a prominent equestrienne along with her sister Lorna. In 1950, Daphne married RAAF aircraftman Lloyd Ruhno of Ipswich, and they had one son. She died in 2014 at the age of 91.
Garrad, Janette. Photographs of B-24D Liberator “Beautiful Betsy” crash site (0001-0005). Brisbane: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, 1996. Print.
To learn more about Queensland’s military history, visit Anzac Square Memorial Galleries 10am-4pm Sunday-Friday.
References
1940 'No title', The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), 27 April, p. 5. (SECOND EDITION), viewed 22 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186661076
1941 'A Winning Quartette', Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), 21 August, p. 6. , viewed 22 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97035058
1944 'ENGAGED', The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), 28 August, p. 4. , viewed 22 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48958693
1949 '60, tops blood list', The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), 22 December, p. 1. , viewed 22 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49709522
1950 'Woman's Interest', Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), 5 June, p. 16. , viewed 22 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212090834
1983 'The Liberator that vanished', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 28 May, p. 11. , viewed 23 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131846373
1994 'Beautiful Betsy no longer lost', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 31 August, p. 9. , viewed 22 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118266266
1994 'Bush gives up wartime secret', Army (National : 1980 - 2021), 20 October, p. 14. , viewed 22 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article267062270
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