Date:	Friday 2 January 1970
Time:	18:00
Type:	de Havilland DH-82a Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	Darling Down Aero Club
Registration:	VH-BXF
MSN:	DHA.152
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Toowoomba Aerodrome, Toowoomba, QLD -   Australia
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Toowoomba City Aerodrome, Toowoomba, Queensland (YTWB)
Destination airport:	Toowoomba City Aerodrome, Toowoomba, Queensland (YTWB)
Investigating agency:	BASI
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
de Havilland DH-82a Tiger Moth MSN DHA.152: Bulit by DH Australia at Bankstown, Sydney, NSW. Taken on charge by the RAF as A17-151 at 1 Aircraft Depot 9.11.40. To 8 EFTS Narrandera 10.12.40. To DH Australia at Mascot, Sydney, NSW 9.11.42 for overhaul; to 2 Aircraft Park 21.12.42. To 1 AOS Cootamundra 28.12.42; issued to 10 EFTS Temora 5.1.43. Crashed at Temora 18.10.43; to DH Australia at Mascot, Sydney, NSW 15.11.43 for repairs & overhaul (DHA No T186). To 2 Aircraft Park 30.12.43; issued to CFS Tamworth 10.1.44. To Parkes 19.1.44; to Point Cook 18.9.44. Withdrawn from use and stored at Point Cook with effect from 11.5.45; put up for sale 6.12.45.

Struck off charge when sold 20.2.46 for £362.10/- to Royal Aero Club of South Australia; issued 27.8.46. Registered as VH-AXF (C of R 1042) 22.8.46 to Royal Aero Club of South Australia, Parafield (as c/n T186). Registered as VH-BXF 29.9.49 to same owner. Badly damaged when overturned Virginia, South Australia 15.5.49 (as VH-BXF); repaired and returned to service.

Re-registered VH-BWF 18.4.51 to same owner. Re-registered VH-UEF 23.4.57 to same owner. Re-registered VH-BXF 28.6.57 to Frederick W Burke, Wagga Wagga, NSW. Registration VH-BXF cancelled 22.9.65. Re-registered 28.9.65 to E D Driver, RAAF Amberley, Queensland. Substantailly damaged when swung and overturned on take-off Toowoomba City Aerodrome, Toowoomba, Queensland 2.1.70. According to the NTSB Report into the incident:

"The pilot had completed his dual conversion training on the aircraft type and was authorised to make a solo flight. He successfully completed one solo circuit with a landing into the west, as planned, on to a grass flight strip on the southern side of the runway. When the aircraft had decelerated to about 10 knots, the pilot decided to immediately take off again. He applied power, but after travelling about 250 to 300 feet on a takeoff path, which undetected by the pilot, was diverging to the left from the heading of the strip, the aircraft struck a gable strip marker and then overturned".

Repaired and returned to service. Re-registered 15.2.70 to Darling Downs Aero Club, Toowoomba, Queensland. Registration VH-BXF cancelled 30.5.79. Re-registered 14.10.83 to John A Doughton, Toowoomba, Queensland. Sold 10.91 to Tiger Moth Scenic Flights (Allen Hutchinson), Cairns (as a replacement for VH-CES). Damaged & stored at Cairns, Queensland (1998).

Re-registered 21.7.99 to Sydney J Beck, Mareeba, Queensland. Registration VH-BXF cancelled 5.11.04 as WFU ("Withdrawn From Use"). Fuselage on display (2004-2011) at Sid Beck’s Military Vehicle Museum, Mareeba, near Cairns. Registration VH-UEF issued 27.8.12 to Tonny Wolzak, Bucasia, Queensland (airframe rebuilt at Luskintyre); aircraft based at Caboolture; painted in RAAF colours as A17-151. Re-registered 11.2.2016 to Peter Roy Nelson, Mapleton, Queensland. Currently registered and airworthy.

1. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a17a.htm
2. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/pAus1.html
4. ATSB Summary into the accident: https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1970/aair/aair197000001/
5. ATSB Full Report into the accident: https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/24574/197000001.pdf
6. https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=40760
7. As Tiger Moth A17-151/"27" in 1941 (second from camera): https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C217154
8. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austb/VH-BXF.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toowoomba_City_Aerodrome

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

13 September 1993

VH-BXF

Allen Hutchinson t/a Tiger Moth Scenic Flights

0

Cairns Airport, Cairns, QLD

w/o

Tiger Moth VH-BXF at Cairns, Queensland in 1992:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Jul-2018 08:05	Pineapple	Added
03-Jan-2022 21:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]
10-Jun-2022 02:10	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]