Some ABMM Bunker Hunter Photos

[bdahunter]

The mud map shows mustang or hellcat, so I assumed P-51 Mustang (cadillac of the sky), such a good fighter that they flew against early Migs in the Korean War, or the carrier-based Hellcat (equally rare as most were shot down by the more manouvreable Zeros)

All of these planes would be great finds and the parts alone are worth a ton to enthusiasts who have and fly the few remaining WWII vintage aircraft. The parts wouldn't have a lot of historical value so surplus parts could be sold off to fund the museum.
Glad to hear the draegars are fine, just something I heard.
Cheers,

BDA

[EPC Guy]

WOW! An amazing operation! This is the sort of thing in which most folks only dream about participating. Best of luck to you and your group - and thanks so much for sharing with us!

[Steve in PR]

This is the first time I have been able to see a ground penetrating device readout that was explained sensibly. Thank you! A great project full of potentially great and possibly dangerous surprises!

[abmm]

Thanks for your interest in the Bundaberg site. It's been a long, hard slog for us as we first heard about the site a couple of days after one of our four informants (not the one who did the mudmap above) entered it in 1997. We have battled hostile bureaucracy and sheer ignorance, but since we radar'd the site in August last year, the doors have opened and some of that red tape has fallen by the wayside. We are currently in limbo until March, when the Aus DoD will do its own geophys surveys on the site to confirm or refute our own findings

We are putting together a full feature on the site on Untitled Document in the near future, so I'll give the fine folks of TQ a sneak preview:

Here goes my credibility...

From our Our First Informant's affadavit in 1997 -

"Upon entering through an air vent we came onto what looked like a dismanteling (sic) room, for there was one kitty hawk in one corner with the propeller removed and a Jap zero tucked in a hole in the wall with both wings removed. Upon walking down this room, I investigated two of the corridors. One opened up to another room which contained a vast amount of explosives (bombs) which were covered in dust and looked unstable. In the other corridor there looked to be a hospital or sleeping quarters. When my friend saw the explosives he said they were too unstable to stay down there and that we were leaving."

First informant's mud map (Australian Bunker Project was our first website before we became a not-for-profit charitable organisation, the ABMM)-



This is interesting when you compare it to the other mudmap above.

Speaking of whiich, here is an affadavit from the guy who drew that other mudmap: - he says he worked for the DoD at the time (1997-1998) and was tasked with surveying these sites. He has also given us some great info on another high-value target in another town which supports our prior research on the site.

"I visited the Bundaberg site in 1998 (XXX-X). Now the D.O.D/D.E.O didn’t know where the entry location (That goes for most locations), So It was up to me to find the location. I spent 3 months searching the Bundaberg airport grounds for an entry point, The only hints I had was that an airport worker in 1977 had found a way in through a drain when his Jack Russell chased a rat in there and in 1996 or 1997 two men found there way through a air vent in a paddock near XXXXXXXXX. The men were arrested for trespassing on commonwealth land and the air vent was blown in.

So I spent a good 3 months looking for a way in. Finally I found a storage drop-off report from 1980 saying that on the 15-06-1980 32 crates of SLR & Ammunition were to placed in to storage at site XXX-X via end Runway run off Entry and the last report from site XXX-X was it closure on 01-11-1980. So I looked over & over the end run way (with planes zooming 10 feet over head). Then one day while exploring the XXXXXXX I came a sixer (tripped) in to a depression in the ground. I thought “This is odd” this depression was a perfect 1.5 X 1 meter rectangle and I thought to myself “About bloody time”.

So I rang my supervisor and said “I found it but I need dig it out” he replied “well go down to the local hardware store and buy yourself a shovel”. I said “What really” he replied “Yep I'll get you a van for cover and someone to help you”.

So 2 days later this old fella turns up with a council van and we get to work, took us 7 hours to dig this thing clear. We walked in and it was like a blast from the past. The first thing I saw was a old jeep, then I turned to my left in amazement an whole ww2 war bird just sitting there. I was like kid in a candy store, I walked past the plane and pointed my flashlight to the right and there was two planes with there wings folded and no tails, there was a clipboard on the wall referring to the planes.

Then my eyes peeled open it said A6M-52 (ZERO). The clipboard detailed the runs and specs like max speed, weights, ceiling and weapons. I was in shock what were ww2 jap zeros painted in U.S colors. I asked the old fella about the planes. He said he had "helped in removing jap aircraft painted in u.s colors from a place called eagle field or something like that".

So we walked down more and found a pair of wings to my left, to my right and further up just aircraft parts. I walked back down turned right and there’s this corridor with 7 rooms.

Room 1 was full of ammo, same for rooms 2&3, Room 4 had 20-25 50 Cal. Browning Heavy Machine guns lined up across the wall and then 60 crates of 303 lee Enfield 10 to a box, Room 5 40 creates of bren guns 5 to a box and 50 crates of 303 L-E, Room 6 had 100 crates 8 to a box and a heap of ammo, Room 7 same as rm 6.

So walked out and to our left to see what past the jeep and there’s a row of old hospital privacy screens so we pushed open these screens and there’s a wall of bombs stacked all the way up to the ceiling. The old fella said “better not light up then ah” so we walked down this wall of bombs (They were fat as 44 gal drums) to the end and there’s these huge crates. I said “what do think is in there” he said “Planes”. OK then. When we were about to leave he said “wait I forgot something” he runs back with 2 ammo boxes and I said “come on put them back” he said “when are they gonna use them”.

So we fill in the hole and he drives me back to the hotel, just as I get out he said “Oi here use as a doorstop” He hands me this 6 pound solid shot I said “thanks & goodbye”. I never saw that old fella again. So the next day I faxed my report and flew home."

I'll stop there for now because the story then starts to get scary with Cold War -era Aus Special Forces (SAS) involvement in planting arms caches around the country for use by guerrillas in case of Chinese or Soviet invasion - I just can't verify much of that stuff at this time, but I found a precedent in Western Europe during the cold war - google "operation gladio".

Originally Posted by EPC Guy

WOW! An amazing operation! This is the sort of thing in which most folks only dream about participating. Best of luck to you and your group - and thanks so much for sharing with us!

I guess it's all become a bit routine for me as I've been doing it for a few years now. Bundaberg is a very exciting site, but it's only one out of approx 250 similar sites in the state of Queensland alone. Of those 250-odd Qld. sites, we have confirmed 8 through archival sources so far over the past decade. I have a feeling my kids will be doing this long after I'm gone. It's really amazing that a war which only went for 6 years (ours started in 1939) could have at least two lifetimes worth of stuff to research, locate and clean up.

We are concentrating almost solely on Bundaberg at the moment because a big pile of ordnance under a large airport is a safety hazard. It's a duty of care issue more than anything, especially considering the amount of flak we have copped over the site.

[Buster]

ABMM, that is so cool..So much history to be discovered.. You really have a cool job for sure...will awit the next posts, maybe with some pictures????...Thanks..Good post indeed..Buster...

[gordiesgirl]

Very cool, can't wait to see more.

[MinelabMan]

I'm at a loss for words so all I'll say is "Incredible"

[Jeff G]

wow, I had no ideas stuff like that was still setting around like that. Those bombs could be a really bad thing should something go unstable..

[creekrat]

These old fighter planes are very rare ,during ww2 the p51 was a stud,my uncle told me the first mustang he saw ,it give him a feeling he could not explain and he knew the war wouldnt last to much long with that brute in the air..........creek

[The TINMAN]

WOW, Talk About HEAVY DUTY STUFF !!!
You sure have Brought another Level to All of this That we are use to Seeing,Hearing and Reading about. Thanks so Much For Sharing all this with Us.
Really Great Photo's ! Ahhh That Rainbow brings so many Memories to mind.