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pictures matches the coastline of Northern Australia, west of Darwin but not east, at least not too far east. If I had to be more specific, I’d say somewhere up to one thousand kilometres starting a bit east of Darwin and sweeping west.”
    Jed feels a wave of disappointment wash over him. “That’s a bit of country Jamie! Any way you can narrow it down for me?”
    Jamie is reaching back to replace his wallet to justify another sweep of the room, but stops and swings his eyes back to Jed. “The vegetation in a couple of the photos is more help. The microclimate they need suggests you’re looking for a coastal bay reasonably protected, maybe by a sand spit to reduce the influence of the open sea and with protection from sea breezes by a high bluff of some kind. The bluff would provide a good balance of shade and temperature control during the day. A couple of the plants tend to grow in restricted pockets no further than about latitude fifteen south.
    Jed unfolds a small map of Australia, spreads it on the bar and puts his pen on top, leaving his question unspoken. Jamie picks up the pen and lets it linger over the map.
    “In strict scientific terms you have to look in this area,” he offers, drawing a line around a large area of Northern Australia. “On the balance of probabilities and a gut feeling, I would narrow it down to this area,” he finishes as he draws a smaller circle. “Now I’ve gotta go, research to do! Call me anytime and thanks for the drink.” He slides the packet of photos across the bar as he stands to leave. “And by the way, the palm tree in this photograph here,” he offers, flicking through the pile to put his finger on the one he is after, “is not native to Australia. That’s Areca, the tree that produces the betel-nut and toddy, a liquor used by the Malays. It came with the Trepang fishermen from the Indonesian islands, so my guess is that closer to Darwin is more likely. If you want to locate this plane, you need to find places where people either haven’t been or are difficult to get to because the geography discourages visitors. Have fun mate, I’m off!”
    He picks up his shoulder bag, gives his hair another flick and wanders across to Miss Nanotechnology to introduce himself. Jed finishes his beer and ponders Jamie’s information.
It’s not too bad,
he decides, trying to cheer himself up as he considers the navigation issues on a flight back from the Philippines. It’s time for a closer look at a map. He deposits his glass on the bar and leaves for home.
    After parking the Jeep Wrangler in the driveway, Jed flicks on the lights to reveal the research documents scattered across the living room floor. Finding the map of Southeast Asia, he gathers up a protractor, ruler and pad and spends the next hour drawing lines and calculating flight times and tracks. He makes some assumptions about the range of the Japanese Zero and Ki-27 fighters, flight times out of Del Monte in the Philippines and the likely damage that could have resulted from an attack.
It had to be a single Japanese fighter that attacked the B-25,
he concludes.
More than one and the plane most likely would have ended up in the sea. Nursing a crippled B-25 back to Australia must have been hell!
    He imagines himself as Karl, possibly wounded, exhausted, flying by dead reckoning with instruments shot up and a dead crew sharing the aircraft. Jed turns the map of Australia upside down and studies it from a pilot’s perspective. Bathurst Island stands out as a clear landmark, just to the north of Darwin. Even when off course to the east, Darwin should be easy to find. Off course to the west and Bathurst Island could be missed and then it was a long flight down into the Bonaparte Gulf. Eventually, the late landfall would become obvious even navigating by dead reckoning. Karl would either spot land on the horizon to the east or turn east in the hope of making a landfall before fuel ran out. Satisfied with his logic he draws