Date:	Tuesday 28 February 1939
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth
Owner/operator:	Auckland Aero Club
Registration:	ZK-ADG
MSN:	894
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	2 miles W of Mangere Aerodrome, Auckland -   New Zealand
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Mangere Aerodrome, Māngere, South Auckland, New Zealand
Destination airport:	Mangere Aerodrome, Māngere, South Auckland, New Zealand

Narrative:
c/no 894: DH.60G Moth [Gipsy I] to DH Australia without C of A; erected by Qantas at Brisbane, Queensland. Registered G-AUIR [C of R 263] 13.2.29 to QANTAS Ltd, Longreach. Re-registered 20.3.29 to Queensland Air Navigation Ltd, Brisbane. Re-registered VH-UIR 28.3.29. Re-registered 9.2.31 to QANTAS Ltd, Brisbane.

Sold 11.2.31 and registered 17.2.31 to J. W. F. Collins, Beaudesert, Queensland. Registered 30.10.33 to Harry F. Broadbent, Coogee, Sydney, NSW. Re-registered 15.1.34 to R.A. Annabel, Rockdale, NSW. Sold 1.2.34 and re-registered 24.2.34 to Putaruru Pine & Pulp Co (NZ) Ltd, but remained based at Sydney, NSW

Sold 19.7.34 and shipped to Auckland Aero Club, Mangere, New Zealand; registration cancelled 1.8.34. Found to be in need of repair on arrival. After repairs, re-registered ZK-ADG [C of R 11] 9.1.35 to Auckland Aero Club, Mangere.

Badly damaged when hit power lines near Mangere 7.7.35; repaired and re-flown 16.7.37. Crashed at Kawhia 27.2.1938 (pilot Mr P D Smith); Aircraft repaired and returned to service. Finally written off (damaged beyond repair) when crashed in stall turn in practice forced landing at Mangere, Auckland 28.2.39 - exactly one year to the very day - later. The crew was performing a training flight around Auckland Airport. On final, while completing a last turn to join the runway, the single engine aircraft stalled and crashed in a field. Both occupants were injured while the aircraft was destroyed. As reported in a contemporary local newspaper (Evening Star, 28 February 1939, Page 8 - see link #2):

"PLANE CRASH
MACHINE OUT OF CONTROL
HITS HUMMOCK IN FIELD
TWO OCCUPANTS ESCAPE LIGHTLY
[Per United Press Association.]
AUCKLAND, February 28.
Two club-trained pilots undergoing an instructor’s course under the Government scheme to build up a reserve of instructors were injured when a de Havilland Gipsy Moth plane crashed in an open field about two miles west of Mangere aerodrome about 9.30 this morning.

They were G. K. Larney, a member of the Canterbury Aero Club, and Robert Hesketh, a member of the Auckland Club. Both were sent to hospital, where they are undergoing an X-ray examination. It is believed that their injuries are not serious.

The two pilots were practising forced landings, which is a routine part of a pilot’s activities, and they chose an open field on a farm over which to go through the movements of landing, without actually coming down to the ground. While turning at an altitude of between 100 ft and 200 ft, the plane got out of control, tending to develop, a spin, and struck the side of a hummock.

The engine hit the ground, and the machine bounded back a few yards, smashing the engine housing and right wing, and buckling the undercarriage.

Larney, who was in the cockpit, climbed out of the plane and assisted Hesketh, who had been at the controls, on to the ground. Farmers came running from all directions, but little was required of them except to summon an ambulance, which proceeded with the pilots to the Auckland Hospital".

1. AHSNZ, 1987, Journal, Vol 30 No 3.
2. Evening Star, 28 February 1939, Page 8: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19390228.2.66
3. Northern Advocate, 28 February 1939, Page 7: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19390228.2.58
4. https://baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-gipsy-moth-auckland
5. http://www.ab-ix.com/dh60.pdf
6. http://www.flydw.org.uk/DWZKAAH.htm
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZK-.html
8. As G-AIUR: http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-australian-register/g-au?highlight=WyJ2aC11YXIiXQ==
9. As VH-UIR: http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-australian-register/vh-ua-um?highlight=WyJ2aC11YXIiXQ==
10. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-AU.html
11. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p008.html
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangere_Aerodrome

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

27 February 1938

ZK-ADG

Auckland Aero Club

0

Kawhia, King Country

sub

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Jun-2009 22:00	angels one five	Added
30-Sep-2013 20:46	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Location, Source]
18-Apr-2014 21:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
18-Apr-2014 21:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
18-Aug-2017 21:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Phase, Source, Narrative]
23-Jan-2022 04:00	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type]
04-Feb-2022 07:25	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
24-May-2022 17:02	Lipatov Sergey	Updated [Source]
14-Nov-2023 20:12	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type, Source]
02-Dec-2023 15:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
03-Dec-2023 07:49	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]