Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Flight Lieut. Brian Hartley Higgins, 28, D.F.C., and six other airmen were killed when an R.A.A.F. flying-boat crashed during exercises off the New South Wales coast. Flight-Lieut. Higgins, who lived at Wangaratta (Vic.), was one of the R.A.A.F.'s most experienced Catalina pilots. Flight - Lieut. Higgins was a member of the first RA.A.F. Catalina squadron to go into action in the South-west Pacific. He was stationed at Rabaul before Japan entered the war. He participated in the only two in the only two raids R.A.AF. Catalinas have made on the Japanese island. He bombed Rabaul eight times in the first two weeks of Jap occupations. He was over Rabaul when the Jap first used night fighters in the South west Pacific area. He escaped them by diving through the smoke of Matupi volcano. 

In all he flew 25 bombing missions in Catalinas and 25 in Mitchell bombers. About a year ago he rescued Lieut Walter Higgins, U.S. Liberator pilot and seven of his crew when they were forced down on a storm-swept reef near Trobriand Island while returning from bombing Rabaul. Higgins also had just returned from bombing Rabaul. He went out again landed in a rough sea near the reef, and took the Americans on board. Lieut. Walter Higgins, while on reconnaissance in a Liberator, first sighted the Japanese convoy destroyed in the Bismarck Sea battle.

Brian Higgins later rescued the crew of a U.S. Flying Fortress who had parachuted into dense jungle near the Gulf of Carpentaria. Blacktrackers, who reluctantly took a ride in Higgins' Catalina while Higgins pointed out parachutes tangled in trees, found four of the crew. Higgins located the four other missing men on a salt pan and landed his Catalina on what he thought was a coastal river. At dawn next morning, when he went to take off, he found the Catalina high and dry on a mud bank,  the 20ft. tide having receded. He had to wait until late afternoon for the tide to come in before he could take off.
Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 27 May 1943.

Father William Thomas Higgins and Mother Katherine Eva Maud Higgins,
lived at Wangaratta, Victoria

June 1935    discharged from 58th Infantry Battalion, AIF to join RAAF

Described on enlisting into WWII as 26 years 1 month of age; single; 5' 5" tall;
184 lbs; fresh complexion; hazel eyes; dark-medium hair; Roman Catholic

18/09/1940  enlisted into WWII RAAF in Melbourne, Victoria

06/11/1941  promoted as Flying Officer

18/12/1942  Awarded the 'Distinguished Flying Cross' - London Gazette
                  for numerous flying operations over Tabuk, Rabual, Gasmata etc

01/04/1943  promoted to Flight Lieutenant

RAAF PBY-5 Catalina, A24-39 (USN 0826), of 3 Operational Training Unit Rathmines (3 OTU) crashed during a landing in rough seas opposite Wonderrabah Knob, Port Stephens, New South Wales at 0915 hours on 24 May 1943. The aircraft had been delivered to the RAAF in February 1942. The flight was part of an inspection of the Broken Bay and Port Stephens areas. F/Lt Higgins had flown to Port Stephens to see if the water was rough enough to carry out rough water landings as laid down in No. 3 OTU training. The OTU course had been extended by one week so that the pilots could get training in rough water landings. F/Lt Higgins had apparently decided that Broken Bay was not suitable for the training and proceed to Port Stephens where he crashed on landing.

Seven men were killed in the crash and two were injured as follows:-

Flight Lieutenant Brian Hartley Higgins (400620) - Pilot - Killed
Pilot Officer Max Alexander Larkan (409842) - 2nd Pilot - Killed
Sergeant Alan Fullerton Craddock (408799) - 2nd Pilot - Killed
Pilot Officer Norman John Brown (411992) W.A. Gunner - Killed
Corporal Thomas Henry Poole (19812) Fitter 2E - Killed
LAC Henry George Lovett (21419) - Fitter 2A - Killed
Sergeant John Johnson (411710) - W.A. Gunner - Seriously injured
Corporal Jaffre David James (8164) - Fitter 2E - Killed
AC1 Kenneth Carlyle Stow (72521) - Armourer - Slight Shock

Brian was buried in:
Sandgate War Cemetery, Sandgate, Newcastle, New South Wales
Plot F, Row D, Grave 11

His name is commemorated on Panel 112 at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT.

His name is also commemorated on a plaque at 5a Lighthouse Road, Inner Light Maritime
Museum & Tea Rooms, Nelson Bay, NSW.

Submitted by Julianne T Ryan.  12/03/2017.  Lest we forget.