Beautiful Betsy – Kroombit Tops NP

I haven’t written a ride report for some time, so I thought I would have a go after visiting the Betsy at the begining of April.

Both trail riding magazines (TZ and TBAM) have covered the Beautiful Betsy bomber story over the last few years, but if you don’t know much about it, here is a synopsis of what happened and what the Betsy is.
USAAF B-24D-53-CO Liberator, #42-40387, “Beautiful Betsy”, of the 528th Bomb Squadron of the 380th Bomb Group went missing on 26 February 1945 with the loss of 8 lives (6 American and 2 British service personnel). The Liberator was on a Fat Cat mission from Fenton to Eagle Farm airfield. The wreckage of “Beautiful Betsy” was not discovered until 49 years later on 2 August 1994, when park ranger, Mark Roe, was checking the results of a controlled burn-off in the Kroombit Tops National Park, about 80kms from Gladstone. Standing on an escarpment, he saw something glinting in the sunlight about 800 metres north of his location. He found the wreckage of “Beautiful Betsy” which had crashed on the side of an unnamed hillside.

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Picture 1 – Betsy wreckage

The mangled wreckage of the Liberator; known as “Beautiful Betsy”, was uncovered by Parks and Wildlife rangers back burning In dense bushland. The twisted fuselage, which includes a shorn-off tall section, has been confirmed as a United States Army Air Force B-24D Liberator which disappeared in stormy weather on a flight from Darwin to Brisbane on February 26, 1945.
“The plane was on what the Americans called a Fat Cat run – It was simply transporting men and supplies as part of a regular flight,” Mr Alford said. The discovery of the Liberator had closed the final chapter on the Northern Territory’s last wartime air crash mystery. He said there had been at least four fruitless expeditions to try to locate the Betsy

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Picture 2 – The Betsy in her glory – The fat cat run

After many years of wanting to do this ride, the Toowoomba Adventure Riders (TARs) finally got up to take a look. The ride saw us depart Toowoomba on April Fools day, was this to be an Omen? Eleven riders left Toowoomba and headed north. Luke Buenen led the push with yours as sweep for the ride. There was a mixture of adventure bikes, 3 x 1000 G/S specials, 3 x 800GS’s, a Tenere, a DR650, a KLR 650 a DRZ400 and a modified R100R mystic.

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Picture 3 – The Group

Friday saw us ride through the Brisbane valley to Linville then north; this was an exceptional ride due to what had happened earlier this year. I was shocked to see the damage on the roads and on the sides of the hills. Land slides and washed out causeways greeted us most of the way to Goomeri. This was all very cruisey and I enjoyed not doing the navigating and leading as is my usual role. I was even getting my share of the dust.

We had a feed at Goomeri and then headed toward Mt Perry for our Friday night camp. Luke had chosen a route that took us across the Burnett River Causeway near Booyal. Upon inspection, the river was flowing pretty quickly and was about 400mm deep and a good 120m wide. I ventured across first on my Pig and was followed by Craig Baills and Andy Martin on F800’s. Upon reflection, it may have been flowing a little too quickly, but the three of us managed to get across with only a few minor issues such as wheel spin on the slimy bottom and a constant battle against the fast flowing river. Luke led the others around the road to meet us on the other side near the entrance to the Goodnight Scrub NP. That night Andy Martin was heard to be offering Spoonfuls of HTFU for those that did not come across.

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Picture 4 – Mick on the River Xing

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Picture 5 – Andy on the River Xing

Luke was trying to follow the national Trail but we began to run out of Daylight about an hour out of Mt Perry on the edge of Goodnight scrub NP, so we headed into Mt Perry and made the General Store just before it shut. Mt Perry was a surprise, the food at the Pub was excellent and the caravan park was the same, a little expensive, but very good.

Saturday morning we headed out to the Boolboonda Tunnel, the home of a huge Bat colony. The Tunnel was constructed in 1883/1884 as part of a railway from North Bundaberg to Mount Perry. This section of the line closed in 1960. If you have not seen the Tunnel, it is worth a look.

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Picture 6 – Bat man and the Bat cave

After a look at the Tunnel, we headed again up the National Trail toward Kalpowar, again an interesting road. From here we road to Smoko at the Ubobo shop and the last fuel for 350km prior to the ride into Betsy. From Ubobo we rode into the Kroombit Tops BP via Cedarvale and Diglum roads again, just good roads for adventure bikes.

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Picture 7 – Mick and Marty on a causeway

Prior to departing on this ride, Matt Rust had spoken to Ranger Tim from the DERM. Ranger Tim warned us that if it rained, the area would prove to be a little challenging. Up until we ventured in the park we had seen no sign’s of water or any damage. However, upon entering the park we soon came upon the first of many large Bog holes and as Ranger Tim prophesized, it was challenging for a few in the group.

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Picture 8 – Dave in the Bog

This though, was excellent country and we all commented at Lunch at the Betsy, just how good it had been. And after we had a quick bite, we made the walk around the wreckage. To say I was moved at this point is an understatement, the whole site is a memorial and as I said before, if you are into Aircraft, this is an accident investigation site you can walk around. Having an aircraft background, I could see the signs just how hard the ol girl had hit. Wreckage is literally all over the side of the hill and the engines are about 150m up the hill from the fuselage, it is something I will never forget.

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Picture 9 – Betsy Fuselage wreckage

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Picture 10 – Betsy wreckage dispersed

There is an alternate route out of the Betsy site via what is known as the wall. We took that road as it is a one way road. I doubt much traffic had used that road in a while and it was a lot of fun. A few good up and down hills as well as bog holes saw us back on the main road in good time. We then headed south toward Monto. This section was again very greasy and offered some great views. Other than some rutted out hills, it was pretty straight forward. A few of the guys had a few issues along the way but nothing more than trail riding incidents. We arrived at the junction of the Wongalee Rd and Clifton Road and after some indecision spoke with a Cocky about the way to go. He mentioned that the Wongalee Rd had black soil content and was just about impassable so we headed back toward Ubobo and then onto our second night stop at Many Peaks Hotel.

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Picture 11 – Luke’s bog Hole

For those who have not been to Many Peaks, it is a surprise to say the least. Also, we managed to land on the night of a local wedding and the wedding had a band playing and they played very badly. Other than the obligatory wedding fight, the burnouts and the arguments, it was a pretty quiet night. What was good was the meal, we all managed to do all right and left happy.

We got out the next morning and made our way toward Monto. Luke discovered the joys of being ride leader and again, found the ground on a slime covered causeway. We made the way to Monto and refuelled and then headed south for home. The ride home was pretty uneventful, we managed to find a few back roads around Kingaroy and by the time we made Kingaroy, we had trouble finding somewhere for lunch. This place literally closes on Sunday’s. I got home around 3pm on Sunday and after about 1500km for the weekend was pretty satisfied.

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Picture 12- Luke’s Casueway

The weekend we managed to see the Boolbunda Tunnel and Betsy, two things I have wanted to do for about 10 years but I could never get around to heading north. Luke did a good job as the ride leader and we managed to get through the ride without any serious injuries or damage to personnel or property. Considering some of the country we rode through on Saturday afternoon, it was a job well done by all.