Date:	Friday 23 May 1952
Time:	17:30 LT
Type:	de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:	Butler Air Transport (Pty) Ltd
Registration:	VH-UUO
MSN:	6259
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Warrumbungles Mountain Range, 11 miles S of Tooraweenah, NSW -   Australia
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Baradine, NSW, Australia
Destination airport:	Tooraweenah, NSW, Australia
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Written off 23.5.52: Crashed into Warrumbungles Mountain Range near Tooraweenah NSW. Crashed in heavily timbered country 11 miles south of Tooraweenah at 5.30pm during a flight from Barradine, NSW, to Tooraweenah in rain and poor weather. Destroyed by fire, Captain Keith Brown and four passengers were injured. Registration cancelled 8.9.52 as "destroyed". As reported in a contemporary local newspaper ("The Age (Melbourne, Vic.) Saturday 24 May 1952 Page 1):

"Five Escape When Plane Crashes, Burns
SYDNEY,- Friday
The pilot and four passengers of a twin-engined Dragon Rapide aircraft escaped when the aircraft crashed in heavily timbered country near Tooraweenah (western New South Wales), late today

The aircraft burst into flames seconds after its occupants had scrambled uninjured from the wreckage. It was completely destroyed.

A search party from Tooraweenah found the pilot, Keith Brown, and passengers huddled, near signal fires they had lit hear, the scene of the crash.

Passengers on the aircraft were: Mrs. Christina Doyle, of Shepparton, Victoria; Miss Butler-Monton, of Newington College, Sydney; Mr. Lawrence Gates, of Redfern, Sydney, and Mr. Max Ney, of Emington, Sydney.

The search party was sent out after the plane had been listed overdue at Tooraweenah. The plane, which be longed to Butler Airways, left Baradene at 5 p.m. on the 25-minute flight to Tooraweenah.

The Warrumbungles is a mountain range in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The nearest town is Coonabarabran. The area is easiest accessed from the Newell Highway which is the major road link directly between Melbourne, Victoria and Brisbane, Queensland and cuts across inland New South Wales from the north to the south".

1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
2. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UUO.html
3. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a33.htm
4. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-near-tooraweenah
5. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/albums.php?gRedir=1 (as RAAF A33-1)
6. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh89/dh89.htm
7. https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+57200/211
8. https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+57200/215
9. Illawarra Daily Mercury (Wollongong, NSW) Saturday 24 May 1952 Page 3 'PLANE CRASHES—BURNS' https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/134026118
10. The Age (Melbourne, Vic.) Saturday 24 May 1952 Page 1 'Five Escape When Plane Crashes, Burns': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205408784
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrumbungles

C/no.6259: Registered ZK-ACO 8.10.34 to NZ Melbourne Centenary Air Race Committee, Mangere; named "Tainui" (and officially handed over 3.10.34). UK C of A 4535 issued 9.10.34. Race No.60, it was flown by Squadron Leader J.D. (Jim) Hewett and Cyril E. Kay, departing Mildenhall, Suffolk, 20.10.34, and arriving at Melbourne 3.11.34 (after suffering tail damage at Cloncurry 28.10.34). It finished fifth in speed race with an elapsed time of 330 hr 51 min and flying time of 106 hr 51 min.

Flown to Palmerston North, New Zealand 14.11.34 and then shipped back for sale to Sydney, Australia on SS "Wanganella"; arriving 27.5.35. Erected and test flown Essendon 5.6.35. Registered 10.6.35 to The Melbourne Centenary Air Race Committee. Registered in Australia as VH-UUO [C of R 528] 10.6.35 to West Australian Airways Ltd, Perth. Re-registered 1.7.36 to Adelaide Airways Ltd, Adelaide (and which, on same day, became Australian National Airways). Badly damaged on landing at Mount Gambier, South Australia 30.9.36; trucked to Parafield and rebuilt by March 1937.

Registered 25.11.36 to Australian National Airways (Pty) Ltd, Essendon [but based at Parafield]; named "Malonga". Re-registered 8.8.39 to Guinea Airways Ltd, Adelaide; named "Lae". Registration cancelled 8.7.40.

Impressed into RAAF service as A33-1, 2.7.40; to 1 EFTS Parafield 2.7.40. To 1 AOS Cootamundra 26.8.40. To DCA 15.4.42. Registration restored as VH-UUO 21.4.42 to Airlines of Australia Ltd, Sydney. Re-registered 26.6.43 to Australian National Airways Pty Ltd, Melbourne; named "Yuptana". Leased to Queensland Airlines Ltd in 1949-50. Re-registered 7.2.50 to Butler Air Transport Pty Ltd, Mascot.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
12-Dec-2011 14:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ]
12-Dec-2011 14:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total occupants, Source, Narrative, ]
10-Mar-2014 02:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
25-Feb-2019 00:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
24-Mar-2025 08:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, ]