CAC Mustang – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB27/04/202204/06/2023

The Aircraft Projects of Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation

This new book by author and AHSA member Joe Vella has just been published (April 2022). Joe began writing this book in 1983 when...

DerekB29/09/202027/12/2022

Australian-built Aircraft and the Industry (Vol 2) by Keith Meggs

The latest book released by author Keith Meggs Volume 2 of this encyclopaedic work (containing only one chapter, being chapter 15, spread across two...

1921 Avro 504K H3021 operated by 1 Flying Training School, Australian Air Force crashed half a mile north of Point Cook, Laverton, Victoria on 6 April 1921. This was the first fatal accident the AAF suffered, occurring within a week of it coming into being. The Avro stalled on a training flight and spun into the ground, nose first, from 500 ft near the hangars at Point Cook. FLGOFF J.K. Fryer-Smith suffered a fractured skull and cuts but LAC Whicker died of his injuries later that night at Caufield Military Hospital. Whicker was the first aviator to lose his life after the Australian Air Force was officially formed on 31 March 1921. The Avro was one of four which participated in the Second Peace Loan air race at Serpentine on 1 August 1920. Sources: ADF-Serials; Davidson, Mary, Serpentine Air Race 1920-2020: The Historical Story of the Aerial Derby and the Second Peace Loan, East Loddon Historical Society, Inc, 2020

1924 WGCDR Stanley James Goble and FLTLT Ivor Ewing McIntyre departed from Point Cook on the first leg of their around-Australia flight (in an anti-clockwise direction) flying Fairey IIID A10-3. After being delayed a day by heavy seas off Point Cook, the flight started at 6.00 a.m. on Sunday, 6 April, 1924, with WGCDR Goble, in command, as the navigator and FLGOFF McIntyre as the pilot. Three-quarters of an hour later they had to force-land at Corner Inlet, north of Wilson's Promontory, to repair the auxiliary fuel tank. Taking off again ten minutes later, they ran into a 30 knot gale accompanied by heavy rain. McIntyre had to descend from 2,500 feet to 250 feet and continue at that height all the way to Eden, NSW, which was reached at 11.40 a.m. It was originally intended to fly direct to Sydney but the Fairey had used more fuel than had been anticipated. On landing, one of the floats was slightly damaged by the waves. Fuel was taken on and they left Eden at 1.28 p.m. for Sydney. During the flight the compass exploded, showering McIntyre with glass and alcohol. The last 90 miles were flown within 100 feet of the sea, through blinding rain, and several times the plane nearly collided with the cliffs near Bulli, However, a safe landing was made at Rose Bay at 4.00 p.m. The compass was taken to the RAAF Experimental Section at Randwick to be repaired. Source: The First Round-Australia Flight, 1924 by Neville Parnell, AHSA Journal, vol 6, no 12, December 1965

1929 After a forced landing west of Wyndham, WA, Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harold Litchfield and Tom McWilliams were stranded for a seventh day on 6 April 1929. Ulm recorded the following in his log: "Our worst day. A plane passed within four miles of us this afternoon. We nearly killed ourselves in the march up the hill and keeping the fires alight. Just after we returned from Darlinghurst Hill and had lit the Coffe Royal fire, Smithy heard the plane and all worked furiously stoking the fire. He passed us not more than five miles away at 2.50 p.m. This decided us, we will have that tree down and jack up the wheel. Smithy and I worked without rest for two hours while Litchfield kept flies away. And we won. We have the tree down, but it knocked us both right up. That plane passing was terribly disappointing and we cursed the pilot terribly. We are now lying down fighting the mosquitoes. We are trying to make light of it, cracking jokes re food of all subjects." Their plan to jack up the aircraft was to use one of the main wheels to help spin the generator for the radio transmitter, which was usually spun by a slipstream-driven propeller. Eric Chater left Derby in a different Western Australian Airways DH.50 after swapping his aircraft for one which had flown in with the mail the previous evening. This other DH.50 was fitted with long-range tanks for extended duration. His departure from Derby was delayed for several hours by "the breaking of a minor pinion in the starter mechanism". That evening his aircraft was reported as missing when it did not return to Derby. Chater had discovered that the Southern Cross had passed over Port George IV mission on the day it went missing. James Woods continued searching from his Wyndham base in the second WAA DH.50 around the area north of Forest River, 30 miles inland, and out to Lacrosse Island, with no result. The third WAA DH.50 flown by Heath arrived at Derby on the afternoon of Saturday 6 April, and prepared to commence searching the next day. The DH.61 "Canberra" flown by Les Holden reached Oodnadatta at 5:55pm on 6 April after departing from Menindee. Anderson and Hitchcock in their Westland Widgeon "Kookaburra" departed from Broken Hill and headed for Oodnadatta on 6 April. But they only reached Marree, SA after flying off course on a westerly route, rather than north-westerly. Anderson realised his mistake when he recognised Port Augusta, from where he headed directly north. The Golburn Aero Club's DH.60G Gipsy Moth G-AUJI, flown by Captain Matheson, had a new carburettor fitted at Gunning after returning there. The forced landing by the Southern Cross and its consequences became known as the "Coffee Royal" affair. Sources: Parnell, N. and Boughton, T., Flypast, A Record of Aviation in Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld), Mon 15 Apr 1929, Page 9, "LIEUTENANT ULM'S LOG"

1942 No.2 Operational Training Unit RAAF was formed at Port Pirie in South Australia on 6 April 1942. The unit initially operated with Wirraway and Fairey Battle aircraft. These initial aircraft were 17 Wirraways allotted from 1OTU being A20-325, 326, 327, 372,373, 400, 401, 402, 403, 414, 499, 506, 508, 509, 510, 530 and 548, and two only Fairey Battle aircraft were allotted form No.2 Bombing & Gunnery School being L5758 and L5774. These 19 aircraft were all allotted the same day on 6 April 1942. The first Commanding Officer was Squadron Leader Peter Jeffrey (DSO, DFC) who arrived at Port Pirie on 27 April from 76 Squadron; he was the unit's Commanding Officer until 19 August 1943. 2OTU operated until January 1946, then from February 1946 was reclassified as No.2 Care & Maintenance Unit until being disbanded in February 1947. On 1 March 1 1952 2OTU was re-formed at Williamtown, NSW and was subsequently re-named to 2 Operational Conversion Unit (2OCU) on 1 September 1958. Source: Mildura 2OTU Heritage Inc.