Date:	Thursday 12 April 1962
Time:	day
Type:	Commonwealth Aircraft CA-18 Mk 21 Mustang
Owner/operator:	AREF Ltd
Registration:	G-ARUK
MSN:	1438
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Dandenong Ranges, near Kallista, VIC -   Australia
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Moorabbin, Melbourne, Victoria (MBW/YMMB)
Destination airport:	Bankstown, Sydney, NSW (BWU/YSBK)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
On the 12th April 1962, the day was cold and miserable with low cloud hiding the Dandenong Ranges. At Moorabbin, the pilot of this Mustang - Ron Flockhart (38) posed for photographs before starting up. The aircraft was painted gaudily in red and black, with silver external fuel tanks under the wings. It had a British registration G-ARUK and the pilot was a British Formula 1 racing car driver who was flying to Bankstown. Using the Mustang, he intended to break the Australia to England speed record for a single engine aircraft. He was not an experienced IFR pilot and most of his flying was on light aircraft. Fifteen minutes after the Mustang had departed, he flew into cloud near the village of Kallista in Dandenong Ranges...He never came out the other side.

Pilot Ron Flockhart (38), who was killed, was the SAME Ron Flockhart who had previously been the pilot of another Mustang, G-ARKD, which had been abandoned at Athens on March 7 1961 (which see). The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km (22 miles) east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

1. La Stampa 13 April 1962, p7
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 101/23: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5070033
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 101/24: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5070034
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 101/25: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5070035
5. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ARUK.pdf
6. https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/mustangs-civil/austcivilmustangs.html
7. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/186823-ron-flockharts-first-mustang.html
8. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au//2a68.shtml
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_North_American_P-51_Mustang#1960s
10. http://www.warbirdz.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1323&page=8
11. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/145263-mustang-a68-5-g-arkd
12. https://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/accidents/
13. https://forums.autosport.com/topic/63254-ron-flockhart-and-his-p-51-mustangs/
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kallista,_Victoria
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandenong_Ranges

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Oct-2011 00:25	Dr. John Smith	Added
05-Aug-2012 12:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Damage, Narrative]
31-Mar-2014 02:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
31-Mar-2014 02:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type]
02-Apr-2014 01:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type]
05-Nov-2014 20:53	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative]
13-Feb-2016 18:22	TB	Updated [Source]
27-Jul-2019 07:16	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
08-Jan-2020 18:24	TB	Updated [Source, Narrative]
27-Nov-2020 21:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
10-Jun-2022 02:36	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]