Date:	Wednesday 26 December 1928
Time:	17:10 LT
Type:	de Havilland DH.60 Moth
Owner/operator:	Australian Aero Club, Victoria Section
Registration:	G-AUME
MSN:	193
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1/4-mile West of Essendon Airfield, Essendon, Victoria -   Australia
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Essendon Airfield, Melbourne, Victoria (MEB/YMEN)
Destination airport:	Essendon Airfield, Melbourne, Victoria (MEB/YMEN)

Narrative:
c/no.193 DH.60 Moth [Cirrus I] registered G-EBME [C of R 1195] 21.8.25 to Lieutenant G.B.H (Rex) Mundy, Croyde, Devon (but based Stag Lane, Edgware, Middlesex]. C of A 920 issued 31.10.25. Intended to be used jointly by Lt Rex Mundy and Capt. W.L. [Laurence] Hope to fly to Sudan for big game hunting. This trip was postponed and flown on European tour instead.

Sold 31.1.27 and re-registered [C of R 1349] 10.3.27 to Air Taxis Ltd, Stag Lane (a company formed 21.12.26 by Mundy and Hope). G-EBME took part in the 1926 Kings Cup Air Race, on 9-10.7.26 piloted by Capt. W Laurence Hope; the Moth Retired during Day 1 - a combination of pilot illness and/or an obstructed fuel supply. However, Moth G-ABME was the Winner of 1927 King's Cup Air Race on 30.7.27, (race number '5') at an average speed 92.8 mph, again piloted by Capt. W Laurence Hope. Subsequently fitted with Cirrus II engine, in August 1927.

Registration cancelled 22.9.27 as "sold abroad". Registered in Australia as G-AUME 26.1.28 to Australian Aero Club, Victoria Section, Essendon. Crashed following steep turn near ground and destroyed by fire 1/4-mile West of Essendon Airfield, Essendon, Victoria 26.12.28; pilot Brian Rhodes and passenger Alfred Heaton killed. Registration cancelled 31.12.28

As reported in a contemporary newspaper (The West Australian (Perth, WA) Thursday 27 December 1928 Page 9 - see link #1)

"PLANE CRASHES
SPINNING NOSE DIVE.
TWO MEN KILLED.
WRECKAGE CATCHES FIRE.
MELBOURNE. Dec. 26
From a height of 300 feet, a Moth aeroplane nose-dived, crashed and burst into flames at Essendon this afternoon. The pilot and a passenger, who were apparently killed instantly, were burned almost beyond recognition. They were:

RHODES, BRIAN (21), motor salesman, of Ardoch Flats, Dandenong-road, East St. Kilda.
HEATON, ALFRED (18), mechanic, of Madura Street. Ascot Vale.

Rhodes left the Essendon aerodrome shortly after 5 o'clock this afternoon in a De Havilland Moth aeroplane. Heaton, who was a frequent visitor to the aerodrome, had persuaded Rhodes to take him for a flight.

According to the stories of several eye-witnesses, the aeroplane had only been in the air a few minutes when it swerved suddenly and descended in a series, of spirals over, an open paddock near the aerodrome. Suddenly it nose-dived and crashed to the; ground. For some seconds it was completely obscured by dense smoke and then fierce flames burst from it.

Several persons rushed to the paddock but by the time the first had v arrived about 10 minutes after the accident the aeroplane had been practically destroyed. The pilot and the passenger were dead

Mr. William Williams of Ascot Vale who saw the crash, said there was a more than usually heavy discharge from the exhaust pipe at the beginning of the spin. He saw, a spurt of flame from some part of the engine just before' the 'plane dived to the ground.

Rhodes, was the only, son of Mr. J. H. Rhodes, managing director of the Rhodes Motor Co. He was one of the most successful salesmen on the staff of Austin Distributors and was 'an enthusiastic member of the -Victorian rection of the Australian Aero Club. He held a pilot's licence. Alfred Heaton was a mechanic employed by the State Electricity Commission. He was informed on Monday that he had been accepted as a candidate for admittance to the Royal Australian Air Force".

1. The West Australian (Perth, WA) Thursday 27 December 1928 Page 9 'PLANE CRASHES: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/32247789
2. The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.) Thursday 27 December 1928 Page 7 AEROPLANE CRASHES: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3977678
3. Sunraysia Daily (Mildura, Vic.) Friday 28 December 1928 Page 3 ESSENDON ’PLANE CRASH: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/264124976
4. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60-moth-melbourne-2-killed
5. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UME.html
6. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-EBME.pdf
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-E3.html
8. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
9. As G-EBME: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-great-bitain-registers-g-eb/g-eb-part-1?highlight=WyJnLWF1bWUiXQ==
10. As G-AUME: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-australian-register/g-au?highlight=WyJnLWF1bWUiXQ==
11. 1926 Kings Cup Air Race: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/pioneering-women/kings-cup-1926?highlight=WzE5MjYsImtpbmdzIiwiY3VwIl0==
12. 1927 Kings Cup Air Race: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/pioneering-women/kings-cup-1927?highlight=WzE5MjcsImtpbmdzIiwiY3VwIl0=
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essendon_Airport#History

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Dec-2011 15:20	Dr. John Smith	Added
01-Sep-2017 21:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
20-Jul-2018 13:54	Sergey L.	Updated [Source]
07-Jun-2022 21:07	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
21-Sep-2023 16:45	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Location]]
10-Dec-2023 20:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]