ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 162983
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| Date: | Saturday 31 May 1930 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Avro 594 Avian IV |
| Owner/operator: | J.H. Bettington |
| Registration: | VH-UKR |
| MSN: | R3/CN/205 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Denison Street, Tamworth, NSW -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Tamworth Airport, Tamworth, NSW |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
c/no R3/CN/205 Avro 594 Avian IV: C of A 1734 issued 21.12.28 to Edgar Percival. Registration G-AUKR allocated, but not taken up. Instead, registered as VH-UKR [C of R 289] 16.5.29 to Edgar W Percival, Sydney. Re-registered 31.12.29 to J.H. Bettington, Dee Why, NSW.
Written off (damaged beyond repair) when crashed at Denison Street, Tamworth, NSW 31.5.30. Lost control performing aerobatics after the propeller broke off, and crashed. According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Coffs Harbour Advocate", Coff Harbour, NSW Tuesday 3 June 1930 Page 2):
"PILOT FRANK MITCHELL KILLED.
Pilot Frank Mitchell, well-known at Coffs Harbour, and a local young man (Harvey West) were killed instantly at Tamworth on Saturday when his machine nose-dived from a height of 1,000 feet and crashed into the ground with a sickening thud. The machine crashed in the middle of a roadway in a populous area. Thirty feet either way would almost certainly, have brought death to others. A report from Tamworth on Saturday stated;—
"Mitchell arrived at Tamworth in his plane yesterday, and for a couple of hours this morning had been flying over the town. Shortly after eleven o'clock the plane took off from the aerodrome, piloted by West, who was being instructed by Mitchell. West was the holder of an A license, obtained at Mascot twelve months ago. After flying over the town at a low altitude, the plane rose to about 2000 feet.
HEARD A MILE AWAY.
Suddenly it started to descend in a circular movement, went into a nose spin, and crashed, with a noise heard a mile away, into Denison Street. Police and ambulance men had to lever the engine and fuselage away before the smashed remains of West and Mitchell could be removed. Thousands of horrified eyes saw the smash. Flying low over the town, the engine in the plane had been shut off at frequent intervals, and then "revved" up at a tremendous rate. The machine, to onlookers, had been following an uncertain course. Before the crash the machine went into a "falling leaf," straightened up, and then got into a nose-spin. Apparently while West was trying to get out of this the engine failed, for the machine fell the last four or five hundred feet nose first. A portion of the propeller blade fell on a nearby house before the machine struck the ground. Serrations on it indicated that the propeller had not been running true. Harvey West was the son of a farmer at Upper Manilla, and was 28 years of ago. Pilot Mitchell was 32 years of age and leaves a wife and three young children in Sydney. He had a long record of flying hours and for some time past has been attached to the Holden School of Flying. In that capacity he has been at Coffs Harbour on a number of occasions with the "Canberra Pup." At the war he was a ground engineer. He accompanied Captain Les. Holden in the Canberra when she found the Southern Cross in North-West Australia. The plane he was flying when he crashed on Saturday was Mr. Bettington's Avro Avian. The bodies of the two men were so badly mutilated that they were almost un-recognisable."
Registration cancelled 31.5.30 as "destroyed"
Sources:
1. Coffs Harbour Advocate, Coff Harbour, NSW Tuesday 3 June 1930 Page 2): https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185723069
2. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/avian.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U.html
4. http://www.orpheusweb.co.uk/vicsmith/OldAccs/May30.html
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-594-avian-iv-tamworth-2-killed
6. https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/96777
7. https://www.adastra.adastron.com/company/chron-30.htm
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamworth_Airport
9. https://www.whereis.com/nsw/west-tamworth-2340/denison-st
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Jan-2014 02:31 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 12-Feb-2019 20:20 | Anon. | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source] |
| 08-Apr-2021 09:02 | Cobar | Updated [Phase, Narrative] |
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