(Date Unknown)

In all probability, the significance of this Noemfoor based aircraft was unknown to the photographer then as it is to most aircraft aficionados today.  The aircraft is "Black Magic"  and the pilot was Sgt. Leonard Victor Waters,  Australia's only aboriginal fighter pilot of WWII. 

Waters had  joined the RAAF on 24 August 1942 and was trained as a flight mechanic. Although exceptionally adept at Morse Code- a skill which he feared might see him allocated to wireless operator's duties, Waters wanted only to be a fighter pilot. Within a year he was applying for a transfer to aircrew. His interviewing officer described his appearance and manners as 'a bit rough' but concluded favorably that Waters 'should make a fighter'. He succeeded in his ambition and, after initial training on Tiger Moths and Wirraways at No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School (1EFTS), Narrandera, NSW,  he graduated as a Sergeant pilot from No. 5 Service Flying Training School (5SFTS), Uranquinty, NSW.  He completed an operational conversion on to the P-40 Kittyhawk with No. 2 Operational Training Unit (2OTU), Mildura, Vic, from where he was posted to No. 78 Squadron on 14 November 1944. 

He flew 95 operational sorties with No. 78 Squadron operating from Noemfoor, Morotai and Tarakan. Sergeant Waters was promoted to Flight Sergeant on 1 January 1945 and eventually Warrant Officer on 1 January 1946.  He was described as a 'gaunt, genial figure, humble despite his daring feats. '  His most frightening moment came when a bomb dropped by another aircraft hit his plane and, unexploded, lodged behind him.   Comparing the experience to having a loaded gun held to his head, Waters had to fly some three hours back to base with the bomb likely to detonate at any moment. 'I'll tell you what,' he said afterwards, 'that was on of the best landings I ever made.' 

In addition to his courage in air fighting, Waters won RAAF's middle-weight boxing title in the Islands. He was discharged from the RAAF on 18 January 1946 and spent thirty-five years in the most Australian of occupations, shearing, and estimated that he must have sheared a million sheep. He died on the 24th August 1993 aged 69 in Cunnamulla and is buried at St. George Cemetery.

Photograph © Paul Turley