A report on another Board mentioned that the C17A was carrying 70 pax and equipment from Learmonth to Townsville when fumes & leaking fuel were
discovered coming from a vehicle onboard the aircraft. Hence the return to Learmonth.
WA Today had coverage and local radio 882 6PR also reported the incident.
And the RAAF activated Learmonth as an operational base a few days before Christmas and sent several hundred personnel and two P3C Orions there to provide an enhanced surveillance and response capability, as part of Operation Resolute, after several incidents of unauthorised boat arrivals and illegal fishing activities in Australia's territorial waters.
So I think we can rule out interference from North West Cape.
And re the disappearance of Harold Holt. I was a teenager living in Melbourne at the time and familiar with the Portsea Back Beach and Cheviot Beach where Holt disappeared. That area can be nasty at the best of times and I just think that Holt got into difficulties and drowned, his body being swept away. He wasn't the first nor was he the last to disappear in those treacherous seas.
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