# Shields Street Reef and a U.S. Air Force plane crash?!



## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

So trawling through the Interweb, I came across a post from many years ago talking about the Shields Street reef at Scarborough. I've known for quite some time this was a known diving location but never figured out why. But according to the post, there is a U.S. Air Force P39 Aerocobra out there that crashed in 1942! Assuming you have Google Earth, I've marked where I think it actually is (
View attachment U.S. Airforce P39 Aerocobra that crashed in 1942.kmz
).

Does anyone know anything more about this?


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

News to me. All my marks are wider than that.
I heard there use to be a hospital ship moored out from Shield st during WW2 and they discarded bottles and other junk and thats what divers were diving for, but haven't ever been able to substantiate that.
Why not ring the museum, I'm sure the historic society would know something.

There is suppose to be a boat wreck out from Scarborough to.

I always wanted to go for a dive and check out some of my marks, but its too cold when its clear enough in winter.


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

That was my next port of call actually...albeit one that could take me a while to get to 

I know what you mean about wanting to go for a dive and check out some of the spots. It's cruel irony that it's at it's clearest during Winter.


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Looks like there was a plane wreck there. This bloke reckons it was a little further north in front of Sylvester st.

http://www.ozatwar.com/2jul42.htm


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

Damn I love the Interweb-thingy


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Amazing story!
Sad there were so many war time accidents. Spitfire went down Strathpine/Lawnton region too!

Cheers andybear Lest we forget


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## mangajack (Jul 23, 2007)

What is left of it is now a mussel patch worth drifting over. The Google Earth KMZ file is over rock not aircraft, I have dived it several times.


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

Yeah, I was taking a guess based on a one line description. That article that Paul posted gives a better description...possibly.


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## mangajack (Jul 23, 2007)

andybear said:


> Amazing story!
> Sad there were so many war time accidents. Spitfire went down Strathpine/Lawnton region too!
> 
> Cheers andybear Lest we forget


Actually it planted into the side of the hill between Dayboro Road and Youngs Crossing up near the base of the North Pine Country Park. Some evidence is still visible there if you look.
There is also another war plane wreck remnant not far from Cowan on Moreton Island, this happened after the war though.


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## Pugwash (Oct 14, 2012)

I might be able to shed some light on the Shields Street air crash from a personal experience and a story from my parents.

Firstly from my parents. (My mother the older sister of Jimbo, a regular contributor) witnessed a collision between 2 WW2 planes in 1942. One crashed into the bay and the other crashed somewhere near Scarborough State School. This may or may not be true as my mother was prone to hairy stories however the next bit is true.

While snorkling of Drury point as a schoolboy in about 1970, a friend and I found a live 50 Calibre machine gun round dated 1940 in about 2 metres of water on a sandy patch in amongst the rocks. It was sitting on top of the sand as happy as can be and in very good condition. Being school boys we just couldn't leave it there and we gingerly took it home with us.

This was dismantled by my father, a keen shooter at the time. To disarm the detenator after removing the bullet and propellant, he heated it up in situ with a porta gas flame with the result being a mighty loud bang as it went of. Dad also lit the propellant which if I remember correctly was a powder, ( this was 43 years ago) . There was a very impressive flare with lots of smoke.

Unfortunately I don't have the cartridge, this went home with my diving mate (Robby Betts)

Cheers Pugwash


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## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

Great story Pugwash :shock: and its interesting to hear of a plane just off Sheilds St, time for a snorkel anyone!

It's amazing what history there is from WW2 there is around Brisbane sadly some of this history is getting forgotton about with passing of the current generation!

I'm currently trying to digitise plans for the beach landing assault training grounds that were in use for some of the war at Toorbul Point (next to Bribie bridge) for the Bribie Historical Society. The amount of soldiers that would have been trained here is phenomenal. One amusing little fact, the yanks nicknamed it "Terrible" Point because most of them couldn't pronounce Toorbul :lol: . For those of you who know Bribie, if you look right leaving the mainland as you head towards Bribie there is a jetty stretching approx 150 metres into the passage. The plans show the same jetty in 1942/3 so its about 70 years old, originally there were three of them!


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

All bias aside given I started the post  but this is one of the most interesting non-kayak fishing related threads I've read  Appreciate all the stories everyone.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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QlpoOTFBWSZTWTrjEN4AAAvfgAAQQAHAAiCACAo/998AIABggRPQao8ptpEYxQxgAAAADLHWKMxOPhHpeWtrFUmoXNX77GBUpLdn2BL+HHs7ZjgOBzUYeB0sv0O3hr0OYqoxhNU1M3auqs3NEsRTQIAqC5AQS/i7kinChIHXGIbw


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

What about in front of Sylvester Street, Leigh, as the article posted by Paul suggests?


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

Will have to put it on my list of "places to go snorkeling when the water is warm and clear"


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