Date:	Wednesday 21 January 1942
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.60G Moth
Owner/operator:	Mandated Airlines Ltd
Registration:	VH-UKM
MSN:	986
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wau Airport, Wau, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea -   Papua New Guinea
Phase:	Standing
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Wau Airport, Wau, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea (WUG/AYWU)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
c/no. 986 DH.60G Moth [Gipsy I #205] to DeHavilland Australia with C of A 1759 issued 28.1.29. Registered as G-AUJM [C of R 285] 3.5.29 to Queensland & Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd [QANTAS], Longreach, Qld. Re-registered VH-UJM on 7.5.29. Re-registered 8.5.30 to J C G Hillman & P Schmidt, Maryborough, Qld. Re-registered 7.10.30 [or 21.10.30] to G McGhie & P Schmidt, t/a Maryborough Airways & School of Flying, Maryborough. Re-registered 31.8.31 to Maryborough Airways & School of Flying Ltd, Maryborough, Qld. Sold 17.1.32 to W E Gardner, Archerfield [but not re-registered]. Registration VH-UJM cancelled 20.6.32 as 'lapsed'.

Re-registered 11.8.32 [or 23.9.32] to W E Gardner, Archerfield. Sold 28.11.32 and registered 16.12.32 to A W Spence, Sandgate, Qld [based Brisbane]. Regn cancelled as 'lapsed' 10.8.33.

Sold 24.5.35 and re-registered 2.7.35 to Pacific Aerial Transport Ltd, Wau, New Guines. Registered 6.10.36 to Mandated Airlines Ltd, Wau, New Guinea. Damaged in forced landing when ran out of fuel at Kau-Kau, near Bulolo, New Guinea 6.11.36; repaired and returned to service

Destroyed by enemy action (destroyed in air raid) in Wau Airport, Wau, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea 21.1.42. On 21.1.42, fighter-bombers from the Japanese 4th Fleet, which was converging on Rabaul and Kavieng, raided Lae, Salamaua and Bulolo. Pilots bombed and strafed the townships and airfields with impunity. At least 21 civilian aircraft and a Hudson bomber were destroyed, and a civilian pilot was killed. Commercial buildings, hangars, workshops and houses were wrecked or damaged. The village of Kela outside Lae, known locally as Chinatown, was also strafed.

Registration VH-UKM cancelled 11.3.42 as "destroyed". Note that several published sources quote the date of the destruction of Moth VH-UJM as 21.1.41 (1941, not 1942). However, this is clearly an error - Japan was not at war at that date, and did not attack New Guinea until early December 1941, almost eleven months later.

1. 'Wings of Gold - How the Aeroplane Developed New Guinea' by James Sinclair
2. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
3. As G-AUJM: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-australian-register/g-au?highlight=WyJ2aC11am0iXQ==
4. As VH-UJM: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-australian-register/vh-ua-um?highlight=WyJ2aC11am0iXQ==
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U1.html.
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p009.html
7. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UJM.html
8. https://www.orpheusweb.co.uk/vicsmith/Accidents/Jan42.html
9. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/archive/Archive_1981.pdf
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wau_Airport_(Papua_New_Guinea)
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wau
12. https://assets.cambridge.org/isbn13/97805218/96818/excerpt/9780521896818_excerpt.htm
13. http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/remember.nsf/Web-Printer/E8521D32448C92C7CA256AC00013EB96
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wau_Airport_(Papua_New_Guinea)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Mar-2024 14:15	Dr. John Smith	Added