ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 300528
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| Date: | Sunday 1 October 1961 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | de Havilland DH.84 Dragon Mk III |
| Owner/operator: | H. W. Baldwin & T. Beverley-Smith |
| Registration: | VH-AGI |
| MSN: | 2017 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Batemans Bay Golf Course, 154 Beach Rd, Batemans Bay, NSW -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Bankstown Airport, Bankstown, Sydney, NSW (BWU/YSBK) |
| Merimbula Airport, Merimbula, NSW (MIM/YMER) |
11.42: Manufactured by De Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd, Mascot Airport, Sydney NSW as part of an order for 87 aircraft
07.11.42: First flight at Mascot, Sydney, NSW.
30.11.42: Received by No 2 Aircraft Park (2 AP) at Bankstown airport, NSW and bought on charge as A34-28.
03.12.42: Completed acceptance tests at 2 Aircraft Park, Bankstown, Sydney, NSW.
04.12.42: Allocated to No 5 Communications Unit (5 CU) at RAAF Garbutt, Queensland.
18.12.42: Received by 5 Communications Unit. Ferried from Bankstown to Garbutt via Coffs Harbour Archerfield-Rockhampton.
24.12.42: Damaged starboard compression leg when taxiing in boggy ground at Hughenden airfield, Queensland.
29.12.42: Received by No 12 Repair & Salvage Unit (12 R&SU) at Breddan airfield, Queensland for repairs.
05.01.43: Allocated to and received by 5 Communications Unit, RAAF Garbutt, Queensland.
08.01.43: Starboard compression strut damaged when landing at Charters Towers, Queensland.
12.01.43: Received by No 12 Repair & Salvage Unit (12 R&SU) at Breddan airfield, Queensland for repairs
30.01.43: Allocated to and received by 5 Communications Unit, RAAF Garbutt, Queensland.
06.04.43: Lost port propeller in flight. Forced landed at Cooktown, Queensland. No damage. Pilot A420790 Sergeant T.B. Watts and passengers Wing Commander Reed, Flight Lieutenant McDonald and Leading Aircraftmen Joyce and Porteous were all uninjured.
03.09.43: Detached for duty between Horn Island and Merauke, Papua New Guinea.
10.09.43: Taxiing accident at Horne Island, upper & lower main planes extensively damaged.
12.09.43: Allocated to No 1 Repair & Salvage Unit (1 R&SU) at Higgins Field, Queensland for repairs.
13.09.43: Received by No 1 Repair & Salvage Unit (1 R&SU) at Higgins Field, Queensland
23.11.43: Allocated to 5 Communications Unit, RAAF Garbutt, Queensland
01.12.43: Received by 5 Communications Unit, RAAF Garbutt, Queensland
29.02.44: Allocated to De Havilland Mascot Airport, NSW for complete overhaul.
06.03.44: Received by De Havilland at Mascot, Sydney, NSW.
14.09.44: Received by 2 Aircraft Park, Bankstown, Sydney, NSW for post overhaul checks.
15.09.44: Allocated to No 5 Aircraft Depot (5 AD) at RAAF Forest Hills, NSW for storage.
18.09.44: Received by 5 AD and stored at Care & Maintenance Unit, RAAF Station Cootamundra, NSW.
19.09.45: Survey report submitted to Commonwealth Disposal Commission (CDC) recommending disposal.
24.09.45: Sold for £750 [$1500] to Reverend T. Jones, The Bush Church Aid Society (BCAS) of Australia & Tasmania.
O4.10.45: Issued to Reverend Jones ex-5 AD Storage, Cootamundra, NSW. Macarthur Job, pilot for Bush Church Aid Society, Ceduna later wrote: “A34-28 was personally selected for BCAS by De Havilland Australia’s Murray Jones and civilianised as VH-AGI”
09.10.45: Allotted registration VH-AGI.
11.10.45: Registration application: Bush Church Aid Society for Australia and Tasmania c/o Rev T. E. Jones, Sydney NSW. Application signed by Mr. A. E. Chadwick, Chief Pilot. To be based Ceduna, SA.
15.03.45: Registered as VH-AGI.
18.03.45: Ferry flight to Ceduna SA flown by De Havilland test pilot RA Gray. Route was Mascot-Wagga Wagga-Seymour-Essendon- Nhill-Parafield-Whyalla-Ceduna with a flying time of 16 hours.
1946-58: Based at Ceduna and performed aerial ambulance and clinic work with BCAS, which operated hospitals at Ceduna and Tarcoola. Titles painted on the forward fuselage were: "Church of England""Bush Church Aid Society, George Street, Sydney" "Australia for Christ""Aerial Medical Service"
31.05.58: Sold to Surfers Paradise Air Taxis, Brisbane Queensland. Used for charter and joyrides.
23.09.58: Sold to Lombard (Australia) Ltd, a finance company in Sydney, NSW.
24.10.59: Withdrawn from use and stored in the open at Bankstown airfield, Sydney, NSW. Struck off the register.
31.12.59: Re-registered to Eddie Burke Car Sales Cooma, NSW. Operated as a charter aircraft out of Merimbula NSW flown by pilot Macarthur Job, trading as South Eastern Air Transport.
27.02.60: Change of ownership to South Eastern Air Transport, Merimbula, NSW.
11.05.61: Repossessed by finance company and ferried back to Bankstown, Sydney, NSW.
22.08.61: Sold to H. W. Baldwin & T. Beverley-Smith, of Sydney NSW.
01.10.61: From pilot Macarthur Job ‘Some months later a chap named Baldwin and his business partner bought VH-AGI, but not long afterwards they ran into extreme turbulence while flying down the coast in high westerly wind conditions. He was flying down to Merimbula with a load of passengers to pick up some radio gear for it from me. It was a clear hot day with a strong gusty westerly winds, and he got caught in savage rotor turbulence in the lee of the Great Dividing Range. The turbulence was severe enough to crack some of the plywood fuselage skinning, and he feared the aircraft was going to break up in flight.
In some consternation they attempted an emergency landing on the Batemans Bay golf course. The undercarriage was damaged when they hit a bunker, and for weeks afterwards the aeroplane sat forlornly on the golf course fairway. Finally they came down from Sydney by road and took everything away everything that could possibly be removed from the basic fuselage and centre section. So that was the inglorious end of dear old VH-AGI. My last sight of it was the gutted fuselage sitting in someone’s back yard in Batemans Bay in 1963 for small boys to play in. I think it was eventually burnt.”
31.01.62: Struck off register as "destroyed"
Sources:
1. Aviation Heritage Vol. 43 No. 3 (September 2012)
2. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH84.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/pAus01.html
4. https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh84-pt2/dh84-dragon-pt2.htm
5. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a34.htm
6. https://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Flying%20doctor%20c.50s%202.htm
7. https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+1732/2/1/1
8. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austa/VH-AGI.html
9. https://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Flying%20doctor%20c.50s%201.htm
10. https://clubcatalina.com.au/contact/
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merimbula_Airport
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Nov-2022 00:02 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
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