By KRISTYN COMINO
KNOWN as “Whispering Death” to the Japanese, the tale of the World War II Beaufighter aircraft was left largely untold to today’s generation until a University of Canberra academic made a documentary about it.
Describing the Australian branch of the Beaufighter as the “forgotten warhorse”, Associate Professor Shane West (pictured) turned a life’s passion for the plane into a mission to tell its story.
“It was something that I felt like I needed to do,” Dr West said. “I knew that if we didn’t tell the story it would go to that great big hanger in the sky and be forgotten.”
Using archived footage from the Australian War Memorial, Dr West and cameraman Chris Doig produced two 90 and 55 minute documentaries about the Beaufighter called Whispering Death in the late 1990s. The 90-minute documentary was shown on free-to-air television and this year SBS and Dymocks released it as a DVD called Beaufighter Squadron, with 2000 copies sold in its first week.
Originally shipped from Britain, Dr West said the Beaufighter played a crucial role in Australian victories in World War II and also has historical significance because of how advanced its manufacture became in Australia, with 365 planes produced at a rate of one per day plus spares.
He said the achievements of the Beaufighter’s crew have also been ignored, including the 650 pilots that flew in the 30 and 31 Squadrons, and that he was pleased he could bring many of them back together to tell the plane’s story.
“Within six months of making the documentary nearly all of the participants passed away so it was very fortuitous I got the history from them and that they got to see the documentary finished as well,” he said. “They were very proud to be able to tell a story that had been forgotten,” he said.
Dr West, who is head of building and construction management at the university, became interested in the story because he heard it as a young pilot and actually started his teaching career in aviation.
“After hearing the Beaufighters story from those involved I became very passionate about it,” he said. “I put the idea to some broadcasters who said it was great but they never actually produced it so I decided I’d just do it myself”.
Dr West gave all proceeds of his VHS documentary to the Beaufighter 30 Squadron to help them rebuild a Beaufighter for display in the Australian War Memorial in 2015. Ex-president and original 30 Squadron member Fred Cassidy AM said this was a major way in which Dr West’s work would help preserve the Beaufighters memory.
“It breaks my heart to know that when the war was over I saw many Beaufighters waiting to be turned into scrap metal and we didn’t think to keep one for the future,” Mr Cassidy said. “Now we have to try and rebuild one to show people what they were like.”
Mr Cassidy said the plane was fast, heavily armed and almost indestructible, given the nickname “Whispering Death” by the Japanese because of its quiet twin engines. He said this gave them an element of surprise that played a key role in Australian victories in World War II, including the pivotal battle of the Bismarck Sea which stopped Japanese territorial advances in New Guinea.
“It is a mystery to those who flew the Beaufighter why it’s not as well known as other planes,” he said. “We don’t want it to be known as the forgotten warhorse forever.”
My father, Fl. Lt. George Gibson, flew Beaufighters during WWII. I was wondering if you had any information on any of his exploits.
Many thanks for your attention
Roz Muir-Smith