Incident de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide VH-ADE,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 27097
 
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Date:Wednesday 26 January 1944
Time:day
Type:Silhouette image of generic DH89 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:Australian National Airways
Registration: VH-ADE
MSN: 6341
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location:Princess Charlotte Bay, QLD -   Australia
Phase: Landing
Nature:Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria (MEB/YMEN)
Destination airport:Cairns, Queensland
Narrative:
Registered G-AENO [CofR 7345] 22.9.36 to Blackpool & West Coast Air Services Ltd, Blackpool. CofA 5667 issued 10.11.36. Name changed 6.12.37 to West Coast Air Services Ltd. Registration cancelled 2.2.38 as sold abroad [and CofA renewed 10.2.38]. Registered EI-ABP 24.2.38 to Aer Lingus; named "Iolar II" (since it replaced DH.84 EI-ABI). Damaged at Croydon 21.5.38; repaired and returned to service.

Registration cancelled 10.2.40 as sold to Australia. Erected Port Adelaide and test flown 19.6.40. Registered VH-ADE 27.6.40 to Guinea Airways Ltd, Adelaide; named "Morobe". Registration cancelled 10.9.40.

Impressed into RAAF as A33-7 and to 1 EFTS Parafield 25.8.40. To 3 EFTS Essendon 24.12.40. To 1 AOS Cootamundra 13.1.41. To DCA 15.4.42 and restored as VH-ADE 20.4.42 to Commonwealth of Australia, Dept of Aviation; operated by Australian National Airways Pty Ltd, Melbourne.

Written off 26.1.44: Forced landing on a beach 13 miles south of Cape Sidmouth, at Princess Charlotte Bay, Queensland. Large air search launched after the Rapide reported missing. Located next day (27.1.44) by RAAF 11 Squadron Catalina A24-55 “FJ-E” which landed on water and picked up the passengers and mail from the beach.

Aircraft stripped on the beach by an ANA crew for spare parts. Components stored in the ANA hangar at Cairns, later moved to a shed on Cairns aerodrome. Other remains abandoned on site and registration cancelled 14.3.44. Spares holding for this aircraft at Cairns transferred to Airlines (WA) Ltd to assist in overhaul of VH-UZY in Oct 1944.

Sources:

1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AENO.pdf
3. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/79-register-gb-g-ae
4. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh89/dh89.htm
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A9.html
6. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/84-register-australia
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-near-cape-sidmouth
8. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a33.htm
9. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p063.html

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
27-Sep-2008 01:00 ASN archive Added
28-Dec-2011 08:20 Dr. John Smith Updated [Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
10-Mar-2014 03:25 Dr. John Smith Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
10-Mar-2014 03:27 Dr. John Smith Updated [Narrative]
29-Jan-2018 21:45 Dr. John Smith Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source]
20-Feb-2019 18:25 Dr. John Smith Updated [Source, Narrative]
09-Jun-2022 22:19 Ron Averes Updated [Location]

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