airfield, the Japanese fighters destroyed two USAAF B-17E Flying Fortresses, a USAAF B-24, two RAAF Lockheed Hudsons, and a Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force (ML-KNIL) Lockheed Lodestar. The aircraft destroyed included: eight PBY Catalina flying boats operated by the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service (MLD), United States Navy and the Royal Air Force; two Short Empires belonging to the RAAF and QANTAS, and five MLD Dornier Do 24s. A KLM Douglas DC-3 airliner—PK-AFV (carrying refugees from Bandung)—was pursued and attacked by three Zeroes north of Broome. The aircraft managed to limp on to perform a successful landing on a beach near Broome, but was then strafed, causing the loss of four lives and the theft of diamonds worth £150,000 – 300,000 (now approximately A$20–40 million). There were no Allied fighter planes based in Broome at the time. The Zeroes encountered some light arms fire from the ground. One Zero pilot—Warrant Officer Osamu Kudō—was killed by ground fire from a Dutch ML-KNIL pilot, First Lieutenant Gus Winckel, using a machine gun he had removed from his Lodestar. Winckel balanced the weapon on his shoulder and sustained burns to his left forearm when it touched the barrel of the gun after firing. Another Zero ran out of fuel and ditched while returning to base, although the pilot survived. In 2010, new research found that Kudo's Zero had been shot down by the tail guns in the B-24A Arabian Knight, which itself was shot down by Kudo's attack with the loss of 19 of the 20 American military personnel on board. Aftermath When later describing the attack, P/O Frank Russell (RAAF), who had been on one of the flying boats in Roebuck Bay during the raid – stated that he had seen "a scene of ghastly devastation... Our flying boats ... were sending up huge clouds of black smoke. Burning petrol in sinister patches floated all over the sea... All around us there fell a ceaseless stream of tracer bullets. Several of the Dutch Dorniers had been full of women and kids, waiting to take off to ... safety." Charlie D'Antoine—an Aboriginal flying boat refueller—helped two passengers from the planes to reach the shore, swimming through burning fuel and wreckage. D'Antoine later received a bravery award from the Dutch government and was invited to attend a royal reception in the Netherlands. At least one U.S. serviceman—Sgt. Melvin