RECOVERING OUR WAR DEAD

Our guest speaker was David Gardner who is in charge of the Point Cook RAAF museum. He spent 30 years with the Royal Australian Air Force before settling in Werribee. His job at the museum is to collect and preserve our flying history.

In another role, David also acts as an adviser for a small group of RAAF staff who investigate MIA's (Missing in Action). The most recent example of this was the discovery and recovery of two air force personnel whose Canberra bomber went missing in a remote mountainous region of Vietnam during a bomb run in 1970.

Following a lengthy investigation early in 2009, the RAAF and Army Historical Unit, aided with information from the local Vietnamese population, discovered aircraft wreckage in April 2009. Although little remained of the wreckage, sufficient significant items were identified as that of the missing Canberra.

In July 2009, a RAAF-led team returned to the wreckage site to search for and recover any crew remains. A combined forensic and aircraft investigation team confirmed remains found were those of Flying Officer Mike Herbert and Pilot Officer Bob Carver, 39 years after they went missing.

Using his knowledge and experience of the Canberra aircraft, David assisted the project by identifying various components found at the crash site to confirm that it was the missing plane.

Crew members Herbert and Carver

Canberra bomber