Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bomber Of The Us Air Force Waltzing Matilda At Guildford Aerodrome, October 1945

Summary

A Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber of the US Army Air Force, serial number 44-69774, named Waltzing Matilda at Guildford Aerodrome (which later became Perth Airport), and parked next to a CAC Wirraway, in late October 1945. After the end of World War Two, under the authority of General Douglas Macarthur, General Jimmy Doolittle chose a handpicked crew to take the B-29 to Australia, so that Australians could see what the famous plane looked like and also donate to the War Bond drive. They named the aircraft Waltzing Matilda and the crew were feted by the dignitaries of all the cities they visited. The itinerary included every major city in Australia as well as many smaller ones, and the tour ran from 17th - 31st October 1945. Maynard William Almeling was chosen as the Radar Bombardier and Tail Gunner was Sgt William H. Harter, Jr. This particular B-29 was a B-29-60-BW previously assigned to 459th Bombardment Squadron of the 330th Bombardment Group, assigned to the 20th Air Force, and originally wore the black square with letter K on the tail, and the number 54 on the rear fuselage, above the crew entry door. This aircraft originally had two names, the official City of Paterson and the real name, Keohane's Kulprits. The photo of the left side of the aircraft shows 28 bomb mission symbols on the nose. This aircraft had reportedly bombed Tokyo a number of times a few months earlier, when World War Two was still underway. The photo of the right side of the aircraft shows a map of Australia with a V for Victory on the nose. The tail is marked with the 20th Air Force logo. It is parked next to a CAC Wirraway of the RAAF (most likely to be from 25 Squadron, based at RAAF Pearce). The Australian National Airways (ANA) hangar behind the aircraft was later owned by Ansett Air Freight, before being demolished in 1998 to make way for a new hangar for Hawker Pacific. (Information supplied by D. Eyre and Scott Hochstein, with G. Goodall, and P. Vabre - Aug.2008).Guildford Aerodrome later became Perth Airport.