Beaufighter – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB30/09/202319/11/2023

Aviation Heritage Vol. 54 No. 3 (September 2023) Contents Listing

The latest quarterly AHSA journal – Aviation Heritage – has recently been posted to members. The contents of all articles are listed below: Aviation...

1939 On 28 September 1939 RAAF No 11 Squadron arrived in Port Moresby with WGCDR L. J. Alexander as Commanding Officer and with 15 ex-Qantas personnel (pilots and maintenance staff) and 16 RAAF personnel. The first four pilots of No 11 Squadron's two Short Empire 'C' Class flying boats were SQNLDR Bob Gurney, SQNLDR Goff Hemsworth, FLGOFF Bill Purton and SQNLDR Eric Sims, all former Qantas pilots. The Short Empire 'C' Class flying boats had been used by Qantas on the Sydney to Singapore run. They were luxurious but slow and had limited range. They flew only by day, passengers being accommodated overnight in Townsville, Darwin and Singapore. When the first two 'C' Class flying boats arrived in Port Moresby in 1939, they had been stripped of their luxurious appointments and were engaged in the search for enemy vessels, including submarines. Source: Gibbs, W. J. 1995 'A Glimpse of the RAAF Meteorological Service', Metarch Papers, No. 7 March 1995, Bureau of Meteorology

1980 Cessna 172N VH-EAG collided in mid-air with Edmund Schneider Limited ES 60/II Boomerang VH-GRT near Moorooduc, Victoria on 28 September 1980. At approximately 1555 hours, persons on the ground in the vicinity of Moorooduc and Bungower Roads noticed the glider as it tracked to the south, at a height of about 1000 feet, apparently joining the Moorooduc Aerodrome circuit, on a wide left downwind leg for a landing into the north. The glider then commenced a shallow left turn, probably intended to take it onto the normal downwind displacement. The Cessna aircraft was then observed ahead of and to the left of the glider. It was tracking from east to west, on the crosswind leg of the circuit pattern, and appeared to be slightly higher than the glider. As the two aircraft closed, the Cessna suddenly banked steeply to the right and the glider appeared to pull up. The aircraft then collided, virtually head-on, at a height of about 1000 feet above a point some 2.5km northwest of Moorooduc Aerodrome. Both the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer of the Cessna separated during the collision. The remainder of the aircraft dived steeply to the ground, killing the pilot and three passengers on impact. The glider virtually disintegrated during the collision and its pilot was probably killed at that time. Sources: ATSB; aviation-safety.net website

1989 Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron VH-AEB crashed 19km WNW of Roma, Queensland on 28 September 1989. At 1911 hours the pilot made a routine radio transmission stating that the aircraft was 20 miles (37 kilometres) north-west of Roma inbound, and leaving 4000 feet on descent after flying from Longreach. He then spoke to the company at Roma on the company VHF frequency. The pilot did not respond to a traffic advisory call from Brisbane Flight Service at 1914 hours, and did not report his arrival at 1917 hours, the estimated time of arrival. Later, when the aircraft could not be located on the ground at Roma aerodrome, an aircraft which had previously departed Roma was diverted to search along the inbound track of the missing aircraft. An Emergency Locator Beacon (ELB) signal was later detected by a searching Army helicopter 19 kilometres west-north-west of Roma, and the wreckage was located at 0145 hours. The aircraft had flown into trees whilst in a shallow descent. Both engines were operating and the wings were level at impact. The weather was fine and the sky was clear but it was a very dark night with no discernible horizon. There were no defects found with the aircraft that may have contributed to the development of the accident. There was no evidence that the pilot was incapacitated, and the reason the aircraft descended below Minimum Safe Altitude was not determined. There were 5 fatalities. Sources: ATSB Investigation number 198903812; aviation-safety.net website