Truscott Air Base
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Truscott Air Base is located some eighty kms.north of Drysdale Mission in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Named after Squadron Leader 'Bluey' Truscott(killed in an air crash in Exmouth Gulf March,1943) it was established in 1943 to provide a base for air attacks against Japanese establishments in S.E.Asia,Spitfires,Catalinas and Liberators were some of the aircraft types stationed here. Early on the morning of May 20th.,1945 Liberator A72-160 of 12 Sqdn.,RAAF on a mine laying mission crashed on take-off and all eleven crew members were killed.Initially buried at Trusscott,the crew were later re-interred in the War Cemetery,Adelaide River,Northern Territory. At the end of the war the base was abandoned and due to it's isolation was left largely untouched for many years; much of the debris from the crash of A72-160 remains at the crash site to this day. Towards the end of the 90s a group of ex-servicemen from Kunnunurra formed 'The Trusscott Tribute Committee' and through their efforts built the Memorials shown above and now hold an annual reunion Memorial service on May 20th.