DC-3 – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB10/03/202511/05/2025

Ticket sales have closed for the DC-3 flights from Essendon to Ballarat 17 & 18 May 2025

The Ballarat branch of the Air Force Association (BAFA) is chartering the Shortstop Jetcharter (SJC) Douglas DC-3 VH-OVM to operate Essendon-Ballarat return flights on...

1972 de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou A4-233 of 38 Squadron RAAF crashed into a Papua New Guinea hillside, killing its Australian crew and most of its passengers on 28 August 1972. The aircraft was part of a 38 Squadron detachment operating Caribou aircraft in Port Moresby until PNG’s independence in 1975 and was carrying high school students and their instructors coming home from an Australian Army Cadet camp in Lae. The crash claimed the lives of 25 of the 29 on board. Air force chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown said in a statement “We believe poor weather forced the crew to retrace their route back through the Kudjeru Gap, but the aircraft’s starboard wing impacted with treetops on a ridge line. After three days of searching, rescuers discovered five surviving cadets. However one survivor later died in hospital.” Air Marshal Brown said the Caribou’s crew included Flight Lieutenant Graham Thomas, Pilot Officer Gregory Ebsary and Corporal Gary Power. Captain Robert Loftus, a ground liaison officer with the Australian army, also died in the accident. Source: Department of Defence

1996 Henry K. Millicer, AM, Polish-Australian aircraft designer, pilot and academic, died on 28 August 1996 at the age of 81. His ashes were scattered from the air over the coast near his home at Anglesea, Victoria, off the Great Ocean Road. He was survived by a son, Richard Maciej, and two daughters, the author Joanna Millicer Hempel, and Helen Millicer, and eight grandchildren. Source: Job, Macarthur and Wilson, Stewart (March 1983), "Henry Millicer and Victa", Made in Australia and NZ; Wikipedia