A FEW days ago marked the 75th anniversary of a dramatic emergency landing of a flying boat. It was briefly one of NSW's most publicised wartime incidents.
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Today, however, it's almost a forgotten event for most of us. But the people of the coastal village of Laurieton, south of Port Macquarie, have never forgotten when Hollywood star Bob Hope and others dropped in unexpectedly back on August 14, 1944.
It was during World War II when their giant Catalina flying boat called Spare Gear lost an engine and swiftly made an emergency landing on Camden Haven River.
The American entertainers, six in all, were en-route to Sydney after making more than 150 stage performances to boost the morale of US troops fighting in the South Pacific.
Unable to find a safe place to land, the aircraft crew jettisoned everything they could to lighten the ailing PBY (patrol bomber), now rapidly losing altitude.
The "Cat" then made an emergency landing on the Camden Haven River, shuddering to a halt after hitting a sandbank. It was a story with a happy ending, despite the aeroplane almost somersaulting from the crash impact.
The news of the safe landing was a great relief to everyone.
Weekender reader John Miner told me recently it was one of the few times the wartime censors allowed the public to know what had actually happened, although one Sydney paper wrongly reported that world famous comedian Bob Hope was now stranded in Port Macquarie.
Travel weary and hungry, Bob Hope and his party - including a fellow comedian, a singer and a dancer - then made a surprise visit to Newcastle by car the next day for lunch before departing by plane for Sydney, en-route to New Guinea.
All members of the party showed signs of strain, according to a Newcastle Herald report. Hope had his lunch quietly with no wisecracks, saying he was tired, then smiling and saying: "Anyway, I left my script behind".
"Although the landing was a hair-raising experience, the loss of the whisky and cigarettes hurt me most," Hope quipped.
"When the pilot told me I would have to jettison some of my belongings, I sighed, closed my eyes and threw out the whisky, cigarettes and souvenirs from Bougainville.
"I bought the whisky in Seattle and gathered some bourbon on the way."
Earlier, one of Bob Hope's bodyguards questioned crew about dumping the whisky into the ocean until being told it was either the booze, or him, that was going overboard. Guess what he chose.
Bob Hope, who went on to do 57 troop entertainment tours until 1991, said the people of Laurieton were marvellous, entering the spirit of adventure during their enforced overnight stopover.
The two girl entertainers onboard were glad of the break, being able to take hot baths; a rare luxury when travelling to remote, jungle combat camps. They were used to daily using an upturned GI's battle helmet in the field as a wash basin.
Troupe dancer Patty Thomas said the group often entertained near the front lines and in hospitals where the wounded men were taken.
By then, Patty Thomas was used to dancing on the hoods of jeeps and on boards thrown down in the mud during tropical storms.
In Laurieton, the group gave an impromptu performance that night at the school of arts hall. There, a new dance, the Hokey-pokey, caught the imagination of the US visitors who were determined to introduce it into the US.
Singer Frances Langford said she wasn't worried during the crash landing, but felt excited instead.
"I suppose I hadn't recovered from the shock of having to jettison a lot of my glamour clothes," she said.
But when the Cat hit the sandbank, she was flung against the side of the plane, injuring her left leg. She suffered abrasions and developed a limp.
While the entertainers briefly rested, a rescue party flew to Laurieton with parts for temporary repairs to enable the downed US Navy Catalina to fly again.
It took the PBY crew three days to pull the patrol bomber off the sandbar. The crew then flew it down to Rathmines RAAF base for further repairs.
But what about comedian Bob Hope's lost whisky?
For years persistent rumours have circulated of the crated alcohol surviving the low-level drop and being found by a local resident and then hidden.
Today the tiny coastal village of Laurieton is still quiet, probably quieter in many ways than in 1944.
Once there were 23 trawlers working out of the inlet, all starting their engines up at 4am. Now there are only two.
Here, the story persists that local fishermen once dragged the estuary with their nets trying to snag a crate. None were ever reported found.
The crash landing occurred on a sand bar near Bunny's Corner, named after a late fishermen called Allan 'Bunny' Wallace. He believed a local young man, Johnny D, had seen the crates floating by in the river and quickly squirreled them away.
Bunny believed Johnny D placed a marker with a special code in the area revealing where the hidden liquor stash was. Unfortunately, after the young man was drafted into the army, he was in New Guinea on an aircraft which crashed in April 1945.
There were no survivors.
Since then a number of hopefuls have searched for the elusive cache amid the mangroves and mozzies, trying to find and decipher the code marker.
One searcher even claimed to have solved the puzzle and found the precious crates. Others claim one container was later found open, but empty.
But the final word should go to acknowledged regional expert and heritage consultant Mitch McKay. It was his 2011 booklet, It's Not Hollywood, But... about the crash landing which inspired the 1944/Bob Hope theme of the area's successful Slice of Haven 2019 festival in late May (when the weather was warmer).
"I've heard all the crash landing stories, of jettisoning the whisky and I know of the (reported) liquor cache," a skeptical McKay said.
"I think if anyone had found (Bob Hope's) whisky, we'd all know about it by now."