Incident de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR Mk 41 VH-KLG,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 65866
 
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Date:Monday 5 October 1953
Time:20:14
Type:Silhouette image of generic MOSQ model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR Mk 41
Owner/operator:Aubrey J.R. Oates, Sydney NSW/KLG Sparkplugs
Registration: VH-KLG
MSN: (ex. A52-324)
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location:beach at Megui, Southern Burma -   Myanmar
Phase: En route
Nature:Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:Cocos Island
Destination airport:Colombo
Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources
Narrative:
Mosquito VH-KLG (ex.A52-324): Completed as a PR41 and renumbered as Mosquito A52-324. 07/05/48 2 AD. 28/05/48 3 AD Archerfield QLD. Stored. 06/11/52 Sold to A Oates DFC to compete in the England to New Zealand Air Race. It became VH-KLG in recognition of the spark-plug manufacturer who sponsored the flight. Ditched off the coast of Burma due to fuel exhaustion when en-route to England /to London for the start of the race. 05/10/1953
On the 3rd of October the plane left Perth, Western Australia for Cocos Island, but was forced to turn back by 120 mile per hour winds, landing at Carnarvon.
The following day they took off again and reached Cocos, about 1,800 statute miles from Perth.
They departed Cocos for Colombo in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, a journey of 1,760 statute miles at 05:16 hrs Sydney time with an estimated time of arrival of 12:06 hrs.

At 12:43 hrs the first of a series of distress calls was heard from the aircraft by ground stations.
At 14:30 hrs Cocos Island Aeradio heard a message saying that the plane was running out of fuel, and at 16:44 hrs Port Hedland heard the Mosquito report " ditching near a group of four islands" , followed at 16:55 hrs by "aircraft approaching coast ".
At 17:04 hrs the message " QAL-5 " or landing in 5 minutes, was received.
The glossy, dark red-painted Mosquito made a forced landing on the beach at Megui.
Oates and Swain both sustained minor injuries and were rescued from muddy water by local fishermen.
Fourteen hours later an RAF search located the plane and the two fliers were rescued.
They were about 1,300 miles off their course to Colombo.
Crew:
S/Ldr (Aus.260822) Aubrey John Raymond OATES DFC (pilot) ex.RAAF - Ok
F/Lt (Aus.410791) Douglas Hereward SWAIN DFC (nav.) ex.RAAF - Ok

Sources:

1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2.http://www.adf-gallery.com.au//2a52.shtml

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
20-Jun-2009 21:53 angels one five Added
20-Jun-2009 22:07 angels one five Updated
25-Mar-2010 12:53 Anon. Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]
29-May-2010 19:28 angels one five Updated [Narrative]
29-Mar-2011 05:10 Nepa Updated [Registration, Source, Narrative]
29-Jun-2014 23:46 angels one five Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
09-Jul-2014 07:56 harryo Updated [Time]
11-Aug-2014 16:37 J.Paco Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Narrative]
21-Jul-2015 16:18 Nepa Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
12-Feb-2019 20:19 Nepa Updated [Cn, Operator, Narrative, Operator]
18-Feb-2019 16:38 Nepa Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]
19-May-2019 14:09 Nepa Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]
15-Jun-2021 10:38 Anon. Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Narrative, Operator]
23-Oct-2023 11:24 Nepa Updated [[Aircraft type, Cn, Narrative, Operator]]
02-Nov-2023 12:52 Nepa Updated [[[Aircraft type, Cn, Narrative, Operator]]]

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