ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 154245
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Date: | Saturday 28 March 1942 |
Time: | |
Type: | de Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth |
Owner/operator: | Madang Aerial Transport Co |
Registration: | VH-UDD |
MSN: | 4063 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Mouth of The Fly River, Western -
Papua New Guinea
|
Phase: | Standing |
Nature: | Passenger |
Departure airport: | Mount Hagen, PNG (HGU/AYMH) |
Destination airport: | Horn Island, Queensland (YHID) |
Narrative:Registered G-ACGN [C of R 4362] 9.5.33 to Gravesend Aviation Ltd, Gravesend. C of A 3899 issued 18.5.33; delivered same day. Re-registered [C of R 6190] 13.8.35 to Launcelot J Rimmer, Hooton Park [but probably based at Gravesend]. Registration cancelled 7.11.35 as sold.
Delivered by sea [on the SS "Comorin"] to Australia; arrived Fremantle 17.12.35. Assembled and delivered Adelaide 7.1.36. Registered in Australia as VH-UDD [C of R 566] 14.1.36 to MacRobertson Miller Aviation Co Ltd, Perth (actually their first aircraft).
Registered 13.1.40 to Madang Aerial Transport Co, Madang, New Guinea. The last three years of the Fox Moth's history is fragmented and contradictory. However, what appears to have happened is as follows:
February 1942: Impressed by Australian Army in Papua New Guinea, probably at Port Morseby.
3.3.42: Father Glover of the Catholic Mission at Madang was authorized to take charge of Fox Moth VH-UDD. Glover had been flying Simmons Spartan VH-UKQ on loan from Norman Wilde for inland evacuations during the previous month.
14.2.42: Father John C. Glover enlisted in New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (NGVR) with rank of Captain. (He later enlisted in Australian Army on 23.2.43, at Wagga Wagga NSW)
11.3.42: VH-UDD Struck-off Register by DCA, assumed destroyed by enemy action at Lae, Morobe Province, PNG (when in fact, this was not the case)
26.3.42: Captain Glover departed Ramu on an attempted evacuation flight to Horn Island and Australian mainland with Carl Nagy, an engineer with Guinea Airways. They reached Mount Hagen, from where they planned to fly direct to Horn Island.
28.3.42: Glover and Nagy departed Mount Hagen, PNG Nagy carried extra fuel in a lavatory pan and added it using a large syringe taken from the Seventh Day Adventist Mission medical store(!) They encountered heavy rain and poor weather in vicinity of Daru, and because of insufficient fuel, landed on a beach near the mouth of The Fly River.
29.3.42: Glover persuaded natives to take them both to Thursday Island by canoe. On arrival in Australia, Glover appealed to the authorities to evacuate the 78 civilians and solders stranded at Mount Hagen. Qantas commenced these evacuations on 13.5.42 using DH.86s VH-USC and VH-USF, operating from Horn Island, Queensland.
mid-1942: Fox Moth VH-UDD apparently recovered from the beach by Australian Army patrol.
19.1.43: Department of Air memo to DCA: "VH-UDD previously believed to be owned by the Catholic Mission at Alexishafen, which was impressed by the Department of Army, has been transferred to the Department of Air. This aircraft was received, together with other aircraft, in a badly damaged condition, at an Aircraft Depot and is not suitable for further service, and has been converted to components."
Sources:
1.
http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh83.pdf 2.
http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UDD.html 3.
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ACGN.pdf 4.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daru 5.
http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh83/dh83.htm 6.
http://www.australian-pow-ww2.com/war_diary_10.html Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
19-Mar-2013 12:21 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
06-May-2014 02:52 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Date, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
06-May-2014 02:55 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
06-May-2014 02:56 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |
26-Jun-2023 03:09 |
Ron Averes |
Updated [[Source]] |
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