Date:	Thursday 3 July 1930
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.60M Moth
Owner/operator:	Eric L. Hook
Registration:	G-AAWV
MSN:	1476
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Arakan Hills, near Taungup, Rakhine State 150 miles from Prome, Burma -   Myanmar
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Akyab, Burma (now Sittwe, Myanmar)
Destination airport:	Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
c/no. 1476 DH.60M Moth [Gipsy I #884] delivered to Selfridge & Co and displayed in their Oxford Street store. Registered G-AAWV [C of R 2521] 17.4.30 to Eric Lawrence Hook, West Wickham, Kent (aircraft based at Heston, Middlesex); named "Dryasel" (name unconfirmed). C of A 2475 issued 17.4.30

Eric Laurence Hook (with James "Jack" Matthews) left Lympne, Kent en-route to Australia 20.6.30. G-AAWV was wrecked when crashed in a rainstorm in jungle in the Arakan Hills, near Taungup, Rakhine State, about 150 miles from Prome, East of Tomas, Burma (Myanmar) on 3.7.30, after leaving Akyab for Rangoon. Both survived the crash, but James Matthews, having left the injured Hook behind, was not found for seven days and Eric Hook had died by the time help reached him. Hook was an Australian national, aged 27, and died at some point between 8.7.30 and 10.7.30. Some newspaper reports state that he had been attacked and mauled by a tiger or a leopard, although it is not clear if this was the cause of death, or if his body was attacked after death.

The story was widely reported at the time, such as this report from The Adelaide News (July 31 1930, page 1 - see link #1)

"FATE OF MR. ERIC HOOK
PROBABLY DIED ON FIRST DAY ALONE
BODY MAULED BY TIGER OR LEOPARD
Clothing Used for Tree Signals
(Special to "The News")
RANGOON, July 30.
The body of Mr. Eric L. Hook, which was found (as published in "The News" yesterday) by a British search party, had been terribly mauled by either a tiger or a leopard.

The remains are being brought to Prome, where they will be buried probably on Friday. Burmese couriers after forced marches brought details of the discovery to Rangoon. Although the body was little more than a skeleton, there is no doubt of its identity. It was found naked; the airmen having discarded their shirts and other garments to use as distress signals on tops of trees. However, the hair was a sure mark of identification.

The expedition wrapped the body in ground sheets for the journey back to Prome. Members of the expedition (which was financed by "The Daily Mail," London) had a grueling time. Generally, they were waist deep, and even chest deep, in the water of raging streams.

WASHED AWAY BY RIVER
It is recalled that Mr. James B. Matthews left Mr. Hook on the bank of a mountain river. This rose and washed him away. Mr. Hook then undoubtedly was dead. It is a curious coincidence that the body eventually was left high and dry by the receding torrent only a furlong from the spot where Mr. Matthews met the villagers who succored him. One of these villagers was first to see the body of Mr. Hook.

"The Rangoon Gazette" expressed the opinion that it would have been wiser if the first expedition had been better organised and supervised by Europeans instead of leaving it to private enterprise to clear up the fate of the missing airman.

NO HOPE OF LIFE
It is felt that there was no hope of finding him alive. Medical men now think that it would have been impossible for Mr. Hook to live more than one day after Mr. Matthews left him in the jungle on Thursday, July 10.

Messrs. Matthews and Hook left London on Friday, June 20, to fly to Australia. Their Moth plane crashed in Burma on Thursday, July 3. The airmen, who were unhurt, set out to obtain assistance. Mr. Hook collapsed from fever and exhaustion, but Mr. Matthews, who pushed on alone finally reached Prome on Saturday, July 12".

Registration G-AAWV cancelled December 1930 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft"

1. News (Adelaide, SA) Thursday 31 July 1930 Page 1: FATE OF MR. ERIC HOOK: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130256981
2. BRITISH FLIER'S BODY FOUND; Eric Hook Died After Crash in a Burmese Jungle July 3: New York Times July 30 1930: https://www.nytimes.com/1930/07/30/archives/british-fliers-body-found-eric-hook-died-after-crash-in-a-burmese.html
3. BEAST ATTACKED FLIER WHO DIED IN JUNGLE; Body of Eric Hook, Who Became Exhausted in Burma, Reveals New Details of His Death: New York Times July 31 1930: https://www.nytimes.com/1930/07/31/archives/beast-attacked-flier-who-died-in-jungle-body-of-eric-hook-who.html
4. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accf1939.htm
5. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/gb-registers-g-aa/g-aa-part-2?highlight=WyJnLWFhd3YiXQ==
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60m-moth-near-toungup-1-killed
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p014.html
8. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AAWV.pdf
9. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taungup

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Nov-2017 13:44	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-May-2020 17:07	TB	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
20-Nov-2022 20:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
29-Dec-2023 17:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]