March 2021 Outlook Newsletter

DerekB29/03/202107/10/2021

The March 2021 edition of Outlook AHSA News has been emailed to members.

A copy can also be downloaded from the Newsletter archive here on the website. Click on the link below to open this edition:

Outlook AHSA Newsletter Volume 37 Number 2 March 2021

1940 RAAF Base Townsville (formerly RAAF Garbutt) was officially formed on 15 October 1940 when No 24 (General Purpose) Squadron moved its Wirraway aircraft from RAAF Station Amberley to the new RAAF Station in Townsville. The airfield had been developed by the Townsville City Council during the late 1930s and the new airport was licensed on 26 January 1939. Civil aviation operations commenced on 1 February 1939 when a Stinson airliner of Airlines of Australia landed in front of a mayoral reception. During World War II, the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) followed by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was based in Townsville. Source: airforce.gov.au

1944 Avro Anson Mk I AW878 operated by No. 2 Air Observers School RAAF crashed near Lady Julia Percy Island, off Point Fairy, Victoria on 15 October 1944. The aircraft took off from Mount Gambier airfield in South Australia at 0800 hrs to carry out a radius of action navigation exercise. The crew were to fly from Mount Gambier to Douglas Point, radius of action to Lady Julia Percy Island, radius of action to Douglas Point and then back to Mount Gambier. Aboard were four crew: the pilot, FLTSGT Sergeant James Henry MacLellan, an instructor, FLTSGT Dennis Leslie Baulderstone, and two student observers, LAC Norman Thomas Kruck and LAC Brian Carter Ladyman. No radio contact was made with the aircraft but it was seen over Douglas Point by the pilot of one of the other aircraft engaged in the formal exercise. Endeavours were made continuously to contact the aircraft from 0830 hrs but were unsuccessful. At 1230 hrs the aircraft had not returned to base, and overdue signals were sent out. At 1300 hrs a search was carried out over the route of the exercise and at 1430 hrs part of the mainplane of the aircraft was sighted on Lady Julia Percy Island. This island lies 12 kilometres south-south-west of Yambuk, and 22 kilometres south-west of Port Fairy. It is about 2 kilometres in length by 1 kilometre wide, comprising a plateau in height from 32–46 metres above sea level, surrounded by cliffs, rock platforms and reefs. A fishing boat searched in the vicinity of the island that evening and passed through small pieces of wreckage strewn over about 3 miles. A further search by boat was carried out the next morning in the same area which resulted in the recovery from the sea and the island of the port and starboard wing tips, the port aileron, the door to the gunner's cockpit, portion of a main spar, the top cover of a fuel tank bay and a "Mae West" boyancy vest. The top cover of the fuel tank bay had the number AW878 in pencil on the underneath side and the Mae West was identified as having been drawn and signed for by Flight Sergeant MacLellan on 15 February 1944. The bodies of the 4 crew members were never located. Sources: ADF-Serials; aviation-safety.net website

1951 de Havilland DH.104 Dove 1 VH-AQO operated by Airlines (WA) Ltd crashed near Kurawang Mission, 14 miles west of Kalgoorlie Airport, WA on 15 October 1951. The aircraft departed Perth on a scheduled flight, designated as No. 849, for Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The pilot informed Kalgoorlie Aeradio, at 15:18 hours, that the aircraft would be landing in seven minutes and requested landing instructions, whereupon Kalgoorlie Aeradio asked VH-AQO to stand by. At 15:20 hours, Kalgoorlie Aeradio transmitted landing instructions to VH-AQO, but no acknowledgment or further communications were received from the aircraft. Subsequently, the wreckage of VH-AQO was found near Kurawang Mission, 14 miles west of Kalgoorlie Airport. All the occupants, comprising a crew of two and five passengers, were killed and the aircraft was destroyed on impact. From the evidence at the crash site it was concluded that the cause of the accident was loss of control when the port wing became detached from the aircraft in the air due to a structural failure in the centre section main spar, due to a fatigue failure of the material in the lower boom of the main spar during normal fiying operations. Sources: Macarthur Job, Air Crash Vol. 2; aviation-safety.net website