ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 27162
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| Date: | Tuesday 8 March 1938 |
| Time: | morning |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.60 Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Australian National Airways |
| Registration: | VH-UNU |
| MSN: | 1444 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Somerton, near Melbourne, Victoria -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria (MEB/YMEN) |
c/no. 1444: DH.60M [Gipsy I] sold to DH Australia with C of A 2382 issued 17.1.30. Registered as VH-UNU [C of R 371] 10.4.30 to De Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd, Mascot, NSW. Re-registered 13.5.30 to New England Motor Co, Brisbane, Queensland. Crashed at Bourke, NSW 17.7.30. Pilot, Reg Robinson was quite badly injured and unfortunately his passenger died. Registration VH-UNU cancelled 4.5.31 as "withdrawn from use".
Repaired and registered 30.12.32 to R G Robinson, t/a New England Motor Co, Brisbane, Queensland. C of A lapsed 4.7.33 and registration cancelled 29.12.33 as "withdrawn from use". Registration VH-UNU restored 12.9.34 to same owner. Re-registered 30.10.34 to New England Airways Ltd, Mascot, NSW. Re-registered 11.5.37 to Australian National Airways Pty Ltd, Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria.
Written off (damaged beyond repair) when crashed at Somerton, Victoria 8.3.38; The pilot was performing a local solo training flight out from Melbourne-Essendon Airport. While making sharp turns exercises, he lost control of the aircraft that crashed in Somerton, 10 km northeast of Essendon Airport. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot was killed.
According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Border Morning Mail" (Albury, NSW) Wednesday 9 March 1938 Page 8 - see link #1):
"PLANE CRASHES IN FIELD
Two Have Lucky Escape
MACHINE TOTALLY WRECKED
MELBOURNE Tuesday.
Failing to come out of a practice spin, an Australian National Airways instruction plane dived into a field at Somerton. three miles from Campbellfield this morning, and was totally wrecked. The occupants, an instructor and his pupil, had remarkable escapes from death.
They were: Captain Louis A. Lobes,31, of Hanhaplea Street, Box Hill, formerly of the R.A.F., flying instructor: and Lionel Sellingson. 20, of Bilden road, St. Kilda. formerly of Western Australia
Both were detained at Royal Melbourne Hospital for observation. Captain Lobes received a torn mouth and ear, and shock; and Sellingson, a torn lip and finger.
An ambulance and a police patrol car drove for nearly half a mile along rough country roads from the main Sydney Road to reach the wreckage. Fences had to be out to allow them to pass".
Registration VH-UNU cancelled same day (8.3.38). Somerton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 21 km (13 miles) north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area.
Sources:
1. Border Morning Mail" (Albury, NSW) Wednesday 9 March 1938 Page 8: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/254948540
2. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UNU.html
3. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/aeroplanes/15-aeroplanes/84-register-australia
4. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-moth-somerton-1-killed
5. https://www.planecrashinfo.com/1938/1938-13.htm
6. http://web.archive.org/web/20150202210455/http://ansetthistory.info/page2.htm
7. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U.html
9. https://www.ahsa.org.au/wp/archives/this-day-in-history/1938-03-08
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerton,_Victoria
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 22-Jan-2014 02:11 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 21-Aug-2017 22:37 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Source] |
| 29-Nov-2021 14:12 | Sergey L. | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Jun-2022 20:18 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
| 04-Oct-2023 19:40 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [[Location]] |
| 10-Oct-2023 13:37 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [[[Location]]] |
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