Early on foggy morning in June 1943, a war weary B-17C of the USAAF, took off from Mackay Airport bound for New Guinea. it climbed through the fog layer and levelled out before commencing 2 left hand turns. Then suddenly, it plunged into bushland. A fireball erupted and all but one of the 41 occupants onboard were killed. It was and remains today, Australia’s worse aviation disaster.

The Bridge over the River Kwai at Tha Markham in Thailand, consisted of two bridges, one a temporary wooden trestle bridge first completed in February 1943 and the other, a high-level steel bridge completed in May of the same year.