WONZ 349 – The Ventura Hunters

Guests: Bil Thuma, Don O’Rorke, Arthur Palmer and Dave O’Malley Host: Dave Homewood Recorded: ‎24th of ‎March ‎2026 Released: 14th of April 2026 Duration: 57 minutes 40 seconds A search is currently underway with the aim of locating the remains of a missing Lockheed Ventura, AE665, which vanished in WWII off the eastern coast of Canada. The crew onboard were an ANZAC crew who included the pilot and captain, P/O Donald Shaw Cormack RAAF, the navigator P/O Stanley Joseph James RAAF, and the wireless operator-air gunner Sgt Thomas Matthew Hunter RNZAF. They were training at No. 34 Operational Training Unit, RAF Pennfield Ridge, in New Brunswick, Canada, as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, with the intention of gaining the necessary skills of a crew destined for RAF medium bomber squadrons. The aircraft crashed into the sea off the Canadian coast on the 26th of January 1943, and vanished. All these years later the pilot’s nephew, real estate businessman Don O’Rorke of Queensland, Australia, and his old school mate, anthropologist and pilot Arthur Palmer, have embarked on a mission to locate the aeroplane and find some closure for the families of the lost men. They brought Canadian-based geophysicist Bil Thuma into the team, who is renowned for finding missing aeroplanes – perhaps the best known examples being The Lost Squadron of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses under the ice in Greenland. That expedition resulted in the recovery of the famous P-38 that was restored and now flies in Rod Lewis’s collection as Glacier Girl. Also joining the chat in this episode is well known Canadian aviation historian and writer Dave O’Malley who gives some background to the flight and the work the men were doing. They also talk about another crash site of a separate No. 34 Operational Training Unit Ventura, AJ211, that crashed just a few weeks later on the 8th of February 1943 on a similar training flight from Pennfield Ridge. That accident also claimed the lives of two Australians and a Kiwi onboard. They were pilot Sergeant Hubert Burnham RAAF, navigator Sgt Phillip Edmond RAAF and wireless operator-air gunner Sgt John Hogan RNZAF. And an overwhelming theme of this episode is the ongoing impact on families of the loss of their airmen 80+ years ago in WWII, and making sure they are not forgotten. Quick Links: • Aircrew Remembered on the loss of Ventura AE665 • The loss of Lockheed Ventura II AJ211 • The Last Flight of an Australian Bomber Above: A Lockheed Ventura II, AE658, just a few serials away from the identical aircraft tat the team is seeking under the ocean, AE665. Here is a video version of the episode The article that Don mentioned that appeared in The Australian newspaper. Pennfield Ridge Air Station Pennfield Ridge Air Station Above: The Ventura Hunters The plaque commemorating the crash site of Venture AJ211 The impact crater made by AJ211 The plaque commemorating the crash site of Venture AJ211 Above: The brother of the  airmen Sgt Hubert Burnham RAAF visits his grave. The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud.