Fairey Firefly VX381

Meet the site

The Fairey Firefly VX381 is one of the best-preserved aircraft wrecks in Australian waters. Delivered to the Royal Navy on 6 December 1948 and transferred to the Royal Australian Navy on 7 April 1949, the AS.5 anti-submarine and reconnaissance aircraft flew with 816 Squadron from HMAS Albatross at Nowra and may have served aboard the carrier HMAS Sydney during the Korean War period.

On 27 November 1956, during a training exercise over Jervis Bay in which aircraft were flying circles in opposite directions, the starboard wingtip of VX381 struck Firefly WD887. WD887 crashed and its crew, Sub Lieutenant Arundel and Midshipman Fogarty, were never recovered. The pilot of VX381, Sub Lieutenant Eagles, ditched the damaged aircraft, and he and his observer-pupil, Midshipman Debus, were rescued by a Sycamore helicopter. The wreck was found in 1983 by local diver Charlie Pickering.

VX381 rests flat on sand in 13 m, facing east, and is largely intact. The four-bladed propeller sits in an X configuration with straight blades, showing the engine was not running when she hit the water. The cockpit is open on the right with the canopy pulled back and the seat and harness still visible; behind it the observer's cabin is open. The starboard wing is buried in sand, the port wing is clear and largely undamaged, and the tail is intact though the tailplane is deteriorating. Some gauges were stolen after discovery. At 13 m with a 13 m wingspan and 12 m length, it is a one-tank dive suitable for all levels. Treat it as a war-era memorial and a protected relic. Afterwards, the Fleet Air Arm Museum at HMAS Albatross displays an airworthy Firefly.

What you might see

Schooling baitfish and bream around the fuselage, flathead, stingrays, small reef fish sheltering in the cockpit, encrusting growth

Location

Intact Royal Australian Navy Fairey Firefly AS.5 lying flat on sand in 13 m in the north-western part of Jervis Bay after a 1956 mid-air collision.

Facilities nearby

Callala Bay and Huskisson ramps; Fleet Air Arm Museum at HMAS Albatross (Nowra) nearby.