Date:	Tuesday 28 February 1939
Time:	night
Type:	Avro 594 Avian II
Owner/operator:	R.H. Hamblin
Registration:	VH-UGA
MSN:	R3/AV/123
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Essendon Airport, Melbourne, VIC -   Australia
Phase:	Standing
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Essendon Airport, Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria (YMEN)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Avro 594B Avian II [fitted with Armstrong Siddeley Genet II engine] C of A 1220 issued 22.9.27 to Edgar Percival. Regd G-AUGA [C of R 183] 3.1.28 to Edgar W Percival, Sydney. Sold 4.4.28 to Silver Planes Ltd, Glen Innes, NSW. Re-registered 6.3.29 to W Meredith & E Lealand, Balmain, NSW [based Sydney]. Re-registered VH-UGA [in 9.30] to same parties. Flown to victory in the New South Wales Aerial Handicap race at Hargrave Airport on 20.9.30.

Registration lapsed 26.3.32; re-registered in 6.32 to same party. Sold 10.5.33 to W.J. Powell, Orange, NSW. Struck on ground by Airspeed Courier VH-UUF 8.8.35 and badly damaged; withdrawn from use and stored. Registration cancelled 6.12.35. Sold on 7.10.38 and re-registered 15.12.38 to R.H. Hamblin, Ganmain, NSW.

Written off (Destroyed by fire) whilst parked in Hangar 3, Essendon Airport, 72 Hargrave Avenue, Essendon Fields, Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria, 28.2.39. According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Barrier Miner, Broken Hill, NSW, Tue 28 Feb 1939 Page 1):

"Seven Planes Destroyed At Essendon
FIRE DAMAGE £50,000
MELBOURNE, Tuesday.
A FIRE which broke out in the hangar of Ansett Airways Pty. Ltd. at Essendon aerodrome early this morning destroyed seven aeroplanes and equipment valued at £50,000.

Four brigades of firemen were unable to save the planes, but they prevented the fire from spreading; to
a new hangar recently built for Australian National Airways at a cost of £30,000, thus saving planes worth about £60,000.

No watchman was employed by Ansett Airways as the building, which is all steel with a concrete floor, was considered to be safe from fire. Flames from the burning petrol drove the firemen back. Poor water pressure hampered their efforts. When the fire was finally under control charred and twisted metal was all that was left of the seven planes.

LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS
The disastrous fire, which destroyed seven, of the company's planes at Essendon aerodrome, upset usual Ansett Airways services to Broken Hill today. The local agent, Mr. H. M. Mullins, advised that two Lockheeds left Sydney today, one for Adelaide, and the other was diverted at Narrandera to Broken Hill. This plane arrived about 11.50 o'clock and left again at 12.30 p.m; As the aerodrome at Mildura is unsafe, the plane will go straight to Melbourne.'"

As stated above, seven aircraft were destroyed by fire. The six that have been identified were:
VH-UGA: Avro 594 Avian II
VH-UZN: Lockheed 10B Electra
VH-UTO: Fokker Universal
VH-UNF: De Havilland DH.60 Gipsy Moth
VH-ABS: Percival Vega Gull
VH-UVH: Porterfield 35/70 Flyabout (later rebuilt)

1. Barrier Miner, Broken Hill, NSW, Tue 28 Feb 1939 Page 1: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48310170
2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144696110/view [Photo H.F. (Jim) Broadbent standing beside W. Meredith's Avro Avian, VH-UGA, in which he won the New South wales Aerial handicap, Hargrave Airport, 20 September 1930]
3. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UGA.html
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U.html
5. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-australian-register
6. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/avian.pdf
7. https://ef100.com.au/hangar-3-constructed/
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essendon_Airport#History

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
30-Dec-2013 22:22	Dr. John Smith	Added
06-Mar-2014 07:46	Anon.	Updated [Location, Departure airport]
07-Jun-2022 21:09	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
19-Nov-2022 19:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
27-May-2023 11:21	Ron Averes	Updated [[Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]]