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Trapped

A true story of survival

February 1942. The Japanese invasion of Timor has begun and attempts to evacuate a group of 29 Australian airmen, charged with keeping an airfield operational until the last moment, are thwarted.

Under the leadership of Bryan Rofe, a 24-year-old meteorological officer, the airmen make for remote jungle along the northwest coast. All attempts to rescue the group fail. Malaria-ravaged and starving, these men are taken to the limits of their endurance for 58 days. When a 300-strong Japanese patrol is sent to hunt them down all hope seems lost, until they receive a strange signal from sea.

Feb 26, 2020

The airmen win a reprieve when the Japanese patrol surging along the beach is inexplicably delayed. With the party’s transceiver batteries flat and six airmen barely able to stand, the remaining Australians have one chance to escape. Shortly after re-establishing with the USS Searaven, a new threat emerges. A storm is...


Feb 26, 2020

With all the airmen stricken with malaria, and food and supplies exhausted, survival seems unlikely for the men of the RAAF rear party. When a Timorese villager loyal to the Japanese delivers a letter to Flight Lieutenant Bryan Rofe demanding his surrender, the airmen must confront the truth that they may never make it...


Feb 25, 2020

Following the tragic death of Pilot Officer Peter Thompson, the stranded airmen head south for the Emergency Landing Ground (ELG). At great cost, the airmen make it to the ELG only for Darwin to rule out sending an aircraft to pick them up. With a Japanese patrol closing in, the airmen retreat into the jungle...


Feb 25, 2020

The airmen have eaten most of their tinned supplies the previous night, a decision Bryan is beginning to deeply regret. The Japanese raid on Broome on March 3, 1942 has all but ruled out the stranded airmen being rescued by flying boat. Flight Lieutenant Bryan Rofe decides to take a small party north on a supply run and...


Feb 25, 2020

After narrowly avoiding Japanese paratroopers on the mad drive towards the mountainous jungle, the airmen hike to Timor’s remote north-west coast in the hope of a seaborne evacuation. They have very limited supplies, just some tinned food and a handful of quinine to treat malaria. Time and the harsh conditions are...