St Stephens Anglican Church

Majors Creek Cemetery

Majors Creek Falls

Majors Creek Hall

Majors Creek Hotel

Old Police Station B&B

Music At The Creek

People of Interest

Ron Rankin

RAAF pilot led RAF Beaufighters on raid near Tunisian capital

On this day, nine Beaufighters of No 272 Squadron, RAF, flew from the Mediterranean island of Malta to attack a German airfield at El Aouina in North Africa, near the Tunisian capital of Tunis. The operation was led by Flying Officer Ronald Rankin of the RAAF, who before the war had been a schoolteacher at Majors Creek, via Braidwood, NSW; he was also an Australian international rugby union footballer for four years. On arrival over the target, the raiders found a long line of transport aircraft assembled on the ground. Nine enemy planes, mostly Ju-52s, were claimed as destroyed—seven by Rankin alone—and a further 15 aircraft and two gliders were believed damaged. The raid had been unopposed. This successful mission resulted next month in Rankin being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; in 1944 he received a Bar to his DFC serving with 30 Squadron, RAAF, in New Guinea.

Rankin surveys wrecked Beaufighter he crash-landed on Morotai, December 1944