CAC Plant Reports 1941, numbers 74-85

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1920 Prime Minister W.M. Hughes presented the £10,000 prize to Sir Ross Smith on 27 February 1920 in Melbourne, following Smith's successful first flight from London to Melbourne along with his brother Sir Keith Smith and mechanics James Bennett and Walter Shiers. Ross decided that the prize should be shared equally among the four crew. Source: Aviation Heritage vol 47 no 3 September 2016

1942 CAC Wirraway A20-462 operated by the RAAF School of Army Co-operation crashed 5 miles South West of Bungendore on 27 February 1942 while on a map-reading exercise. There were 2 fatalities and the aircraft was written off. Source: NAA: A9186, 357

1943 Lockheed Hudson A16-212 operated by 13 Squadron RAAF crashed at Hughes Strip, NT at 1948 hrs on 27 February 1943. The aircraft was on a test flight by 1 RSU and crashed just off the runway threshold when making a dummy approach to the strip during bad weather and limited visibility. There were 4 fatalities and the aircraft was written off. Sources: ADF-Serials website and aviation-safety.net website

1944 Bristol Beaufighter Mk X A19-165 operated by 31 (City of Wagga Wagga) Squadron RAAF crashed at Coomalie, NT on 27 February 1944. A19-165 was the first Beaufighter received by 31 Sqn with feathering propellers. At 17.21 hours it took off from Coomalie NT on a test flight and circled the airstrip at low altitude when it suffered dual engine failure. The pilot attempted a belly landing but struck trees and burnt. There were 2 fatalities and the aircraft was w/o. Sources: ADF-Serials website and aviation-safety.net website

1986 Aero Commander 500S Shrike Commander VH-SDO operated by Aerodata/World Geoscience Corporation crashed 2km N of Canning Dam, Western Australia on 27 February 1986. There were 2 fatalities and the aircraft was written off. Source: aviation-safety.net website

2009 (Virgin) V-Australia received an air operator's certificate after undertaking proving flights for CASA. Boeing 777-300ER aircraft were to be used on the trans-Pacific route and the airline hoped to expand to South Africa. Source: V Australia, Australia's new international airline takes off: a new era for trans Pacific travel, media release, Sydney, 27 February 2009. via aph.gov.au website