Supermarine Southampton – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB06/03/202303/06/2023

Aviation Heritage Vol. 54 No. 1 (March 2023) Contents Listing

The latest quarterly edition (March 2023) of the AHSA journal – Aviation Heritage – has recently been posted to members. The full contents are...

1944 de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide VH-UBN operated by Guinea Airways Ltd crashed at Mount Kitchener, Barossa Valley, southeast of Tanunda, SA on 20 July 1944. The aircraft departed Renmark, South Australia at 1.42 pm in poor weather bound for Adelaide. The pilot attempted to climb through cloud, but struck the ground and crashed inverted at 3:15 pm near Tanunda. The wreckage caught fire and Captain Frank P. Gill and all six passengers (including two pregnant women and a police constable) on board were killed. As there were no survivors, an accurate account of what happened that day will never be known. According to an official report compiled by Guinea Airways, it occurred as a result of poor judgement on the pilot’s behalf. Rescue efforts were slow, even though the crash was heard by nearby landholders. A search party was organised, but was hampered by the steep terrain and poor visibility. On the following day, one of the searchers went to sit on a rock and found it was an engine, which had rolled down to the creek bed. The main fuselage and the remains of the occupants were found further up the mountain side. According to a contemporary newspaper report the coroner returned an open finding at Tanunda, when the inquest into the death of Theodore Wilhelm Schwartzkopff, 48, carrier, of Renmark, one of the seven victims of the Guinea Airways plane crash at Mount Kitchener on July 20. It was stated for the first time that the plane was upside down and out of control when it crashed. This was the opinion of Arthur Frederickson, aircraft inspector, of South Terrace, Adelaide, who said that he had examined the wreckage of the plane on the side of Mount Kitchener on July 21. Experts agreed, he said, that after leaving Renmark early in the afternoon of July 20 the pilot had pursued "contact flight" (flying within sight of the ground) until it became no longer possible. He had then attempted to climb into the clouds, and in the course of his doing so the aircraft got out of control and crashed. The witness added that the plane had evidently been flying in moisture and rain for a considerable period. This could have adversely affected the instruments, particularly the air-speed indicator. It was also possible that the blind flying instruments were rendered useless by freezing. Sources: aviation-safety.net website; The Argus (Melbourne, Victoria), Wednesday, 2 August 1944, Page 3, "PLANE CRASHED UPSIDE DOWN'

1947 Two Fairey Firefly Mk I aircraft operated by 812 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy crashed at Frankston, 15 miles from Melbourne on 20 July 1947. The two Fireflys (PP589 and TW677) were both operating from the visiting aircraft carrier HMS Theseus and collided mid-air and crashed at Frankston. The four occupants - two in each aircraft - died in the crash. Source: aviation-safety.net website; The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld) Mon 21 Jul 1947, Page 1, "Royal Navy Squadron Has Tragic Day"

1994 The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation report into the Monarch Airlines crash at Young in June 1993 (released on 20 July 1994) suggested the need for new arrangements in air regulation and funding, due to latent organisational failures and deficiencies within the CAA. The Minister for Transport, the Hon Laurie Brereton MP removed the head of CAA safety Mr George Macionis. He also established an Aviation Safety Agency as a separate entity within the CAA. The CAA remained under Chair General Peter Gration and Mr Doug Roser. The Minister also agreed to a parliamentary inquiry into air safety by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport, Communications and Infrastructure, headed by the Hon Peter Morris MP, to investigate air safety standards as well as their supervision and compliance. BASI remained under Director Dr Rob Lee. Source: BASI Investigation Report, 9301743; Minister for Transport News Release, T44/94; Plane Safe. via aph.gov.au website