ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 27198
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| Date: | Friday 21 October 1949 |
| Time: | 13:00 LT |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide |
| Owner/operator: | Connellan Airways |
| Registration: | VH-UZY |
| MSN: | 6384 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Coolibah Station, 210 miles South of Darwin, NT -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Coolibah Station, NT |
| Tennant Creek, NT | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
C of A 6125 issued 12.11.37. Shipped to Australia, erected and reflown at Sydney, Mascot 17.1.38. Registered VH-UZY [C ofR 683] 25.1.38 to W R Carpenter & Co Ltd, Sydney. Operated by North Queensland Airways Ltd, Cairns from 1.10.38, named "Illuka". Sold 25.10.38 and re-registered 1.12.38 to Airlines of Australia Ltd, Cairns, Queensland. Registration cancelled 9.8.40.
Impressed into the RAAF as A33-6 and to 3 EFTS Essendon 12.8.40. To 1 AOS Cootamundra 23.9.40. To 1 AD Laverton 2.6.42. To 32 Squadron, Horn Island 15.6.42. To 33 Squadron, Townsville 3.8.42. To 1 RCF Port Moresby 14.9.42. To 2 AAU Archerfield 10.3.43. To 1 RCS Port Moresby 4.4.43. In May 1943 it was assigned to 2 Air Ambulance Unit but was operated by 1 Rescue & Communication Squadron unless required for ambulance duties. It was probably operated in camouflage and carrying the ADAT callsign VH-CRQ. Damaged by fire and to 15 ARD Port Moresby 30.6.43 for shipment to Mascot and rebuilt. Allotted to DCA 13.11.43 and issued 19.1.44.
Crashed Cape Sidmouth, Queensland 27.1.44. To De Havilland Mascot for repair; shipped 17.3.44 (per SS 'Madura') to Airlines (WA) Ltd, Perth for rebuild. This small airline had, like many others, relinquished much of its fleet to RAAF impressments and desperately needed replacements in order to maintain a modicum of service. DCA therefore negotiated to have a RAAF DH.89A released to it.
A33-6 was being stored dismantled at de Havilland Aircraft at Mascot for overhaul, so DCA arranged for it to be shipped to Perth in March 1944 along with spare parts from Rapide VH-UXT, and additional RAAF spares from Melbourne. On arrival in Perth, the aircraft and the spare parts were found to be in extremely poor condition, leading to an acrimonious dispute between Airlines (WA) Ltd and DCA over the purchase price.
Repairs/rebuild completed and first test flown 17.11.44. Registered VH-UZY 19.11.44 to Airlines (WA) Ltd, Perth; named "RMA Perth". Registered 20.10.48 to Connellan Airways Ltd, Alice Springs.
Crashed on takeoff at Coolibah Station, NT, and destroyed by fire. The Rapide was operating Connellan Airways Flight 1203 from Wyndham WA to Tennant Creek. Pilot G. Colin Johnston made a scheduled landing at Coolibah (210 miles south of Darwin) at 12.10pm. No passengers or freight were carried and only a light load of mail when he took off at 1pm. Aircraft turned right then stalled into the ground and was burnt out.
On 22.10.49, DCA investigator H. J. Emmerson and a Police Constable arrived at Coolibah from Darwin, on board Miles Gemini VH-BLN of NT Medical Service, flown by Jack Slade.
DCA investigation report did not identify a specific reason for the crash, but was probably the result of severe turbulence and reduced performance due high Density Altitude. Later Eddie Connellan wrote in his book Failure of Triumph:
“On October 19th 1949 (sic) tragedy struck again when Colin Johnson (sic) was killed in a Rapide doing a beat-up at Coolibah. He had lunched at Coolibah and was very friendly with the people there, and taking off with no passengers on board decided to turn back and do a beat-up past the homestead, which was his normal practice when he had no passengers.”
On 16.1.51 VH-UZY was Struck-off Register
.
Sources:
1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
2. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UZY.html
3. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a33.htm
4. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh89/dh89.htm
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-coolibah-1-killed
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U1.html
7. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/84-register-australia
Media:
Dragon Rapide VH-UZY at Rottnest – February 1949
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 30-Dec-2011 10:31 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 10-Mar-2014 03:18 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Total occupants, Location, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Feb-2019 16:27 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Feb-2019 00:00 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code, Narrative] |
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