18°07′S 122°16′E / 18.117°S 122.267°E
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Roebuck Bay Seaplane Base, also called Broome Seaplane Base, was located in Roebuck Bay Western Australia near the town of Broome. The base opened in March 1942 and operated Consolidated PBY Catalina seaplanes during World War II. The base was used by the United States Navy starting in 1942.[1]
Roebuck Bay, also called Broome Harbor, is a natural bay offering a protected port on Australia's northwestern shore. Following the loss of Naval Base Manila in the Philippines, the US seaplanes fled to the Dutch East Indies and then to Balikpapan, Indonesia until these ports were taken over by the Empire of Japan in March 1942. By December 19, 1941 ten PBY Catalinas were in Balikpapan: VP-101 had P-2, P-3, P-6, P-8, P-9, P-11 and VP-102 had P-23, p-25, P-26 P-2. The seaplanes at Roebuck Bay came from Surabaya, Java after Japan's occupation of Java in 1942. Parts of Patrol Squadrons VP-22, VP-101 and VP-102 of the U.S. Navy's Pat Wing 10 were operating from Roebuck Bay Seaplane Base. By the time the PBYs of Pat Wing 10 arrived at Roebuck Bay Seaplane Base about half of the planes had been lost. The base was also used by the Royal Netherlands Navy after departing Java, Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force. After the raid on March 3, 1942, PBY operations moved south to Seaplane Base Exmouth. USS Childs, a destroyer converted into a seaplane tender, was serving the planes at Roebuck Bay, but departed before the raid. Childs did leave behind a launch boat, that saved the lives of many during the raid. The motor schooner Nickolbay was at Roebuck Bay acting as a seaplane tender at the time of the raid. Nickolbay was the only transportation to survive the attack, as such transported some from Roebuck Bay to Port Hedland, about 300 miles south. Broome was attacked three more times by Japanese aircraft, but with not much damage. Broome Harbor had been a pearling port since 1883. Roebuck Bay and the Broome Airfield was used for 14 days before the raid by the Dutch as a refueling stop for planes evacuating Dutch East Indies refugee and troops to Perth. In those 14 days over 8,000 Dutch had passed though Broome. The Royal Australian Air Force and US Navy assisted the Dutch in the evacuations.[2][3][4]
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Main article: Attack on Broome |
On March 3, 1942 at 9:20 AM nine A6M2 Zeros and a C5M2 plane strafed the seaplanes at the base. The tide was low so most of the planes were far from shore awaiting to be refueled.[5] At the time only two US Navy PBY planes were at Roebuck Bay and no US crews were injured. In the raid 70 people killed and 24 aircraft were destroyed, 15 of the aircraft were flying boats at Roebuck Bay seaplane base. Some of these planes are still in the bay and can be seen about a mile offshore in low spring and king tides.[6][7]
The United States Armed Forces operating the base at Broome thought the base was out of range of Japanese fighters based in Timor. But the planes used had extra fuel tanks added to make the attack. The town of Derby, Western Australia north of Roebuck Bay was also strafed on March 3, 1942.[8]
Not one aircraft was operational at the end of the attack at 10.30 AM. The aircraft lost in the raid were:[9]
On March 20, 1942 Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" medium bombers bombed the Broome Airfield. Attack killed one civilian and did minor damage to the airfield.[21]
Raid memorials at Broome:[22][23]
