Date:	Friday 21 October 1949
Time:	13:00 LT
Type:	de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:	Connellan Airways Ltd
Registration:	VH-UZY
MSN:	6384
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Coolibah Station, 210 miles South of Darwin, Northern Territories -   Australia
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Coolibah Station, NT
Destination airport:	Tennant Creek, NT
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Crashed on takeoff at Coolibah Station, 210 miles South of Darwin, Northern Territories, and destroyed by fire. The Rapide was operating Connellan Airways Flight 1203 from Wyndham WA to Tennant Creek, NT. Pilot Colin Johnston made a scheduled landing at Coolibah at 12.10pm. No passengers or freight were carried and only a light load of mail when he took off at 1pm. Aircraft turned right then stalled into the ground and was burnt out.

As reported in a contemporary local newspaper (The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW) Sunday 23 Oct 1949 Page 3):

"Pilot Burned To Death In Territory Crash
DARWIN, Saturday.

A Connellan Airways pilot was burned to death yesterday when a Dragon Rapide, aircraft crashed on taking off at Coolibah Station, 200 miles south of Darwin. The dead man is Capt.Colin Johnston, married, of Alice Springs.

The plane appeared to take off normally, but it crashed after crossing a river about a mile from the airfield. Nothing but the tail was leftof the twin-engined machine.

Coolibah pedal wireless was out of order and a native was sent on horseback 40 miles to Timber Creek. The police there contacted Wyndham, and Darwin authorities received the news to-day. Johnston had been with Connellan Airways for about two years".

On 22.10.49, DCA investigator H. J. Emmerson and a Police Constable arrived at Coolibah from Darwin, on board Miles Gemini VH-BLN of NT Medical Service, flown by Jack Slade.

DCA investigation report did not identify a specific reason for the crash, but was probably the result of severe turbulence and reduced performance due high Density Altitude. Later Eddie Connellan wrote in his book Failure of Triumph:

“On October 19th 1949 (sic)** tragedy struck again when Colin Johnson (sic)** was killed in a Rapide doing a beat-up at Coolibah. He had lunched at Coolibah and was very friendly with the people there, and taking off with no passengers on board decided to turn back and do a beat-up past the homestead, which was his normal practice when he had no passengers.”.**(Eddie Connellan mis-remembered the date and the name of the pilot - all contemporary accounts give the date of the incident as October 21st and the pilot's name as 'Johnston')

On 16.1.51 VH-UZY was Struck-off Register. The head stockman, an Aboriginal man named Jack Brumby, was recommended for a gallantry award for his part in rescuing the pilot. Brumby rode for 40 miles in temperatures of 107 degrees F to reach Timber Creek in order to raise the alarm. The honor was was awarded and widely reported on 17 December 1949 (see links #13 to #16).

Coolibah Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is situated about 53 kilometres (33 mi) east of Timber Creek and 184 kilometres (114 mi) south west of Katherine with the homestead situated along the Victoria River. In 1953 the station was regarded as the third largest in Australia, with an area of 7,000 square miles (18,130 km2).

1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
2. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UZY.html
3. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a33.htm
4. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh89/dh89.htm
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-coolibah-1-killed
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U1.html
7. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/84-register-australia
8. The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW) Sunday 23 October 1949 Page 3 'Pilot Burned to Death in Territory Crash': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18471727
9. Adelaide News (Adelaide, SA) Saturday 22 October 1949 Page 1 'AIR CRASH IN N.T.': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131232577
10. Northern Standard (Darwin, NT) Friday 28 October 1949 Page 12 'PLANE CRASH': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49991003
11. Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld) Sunday 23 October 1949 Page 1 'Pilot killed in plane crash': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/98285591
12. The Age (Melbourne, Vic.) Monday 24 October 1949 Page 3 'Feeder Service Plane Crash; Pilot Dead': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189472774
13. The Cairns Post (Cairns, Qld.) Saturday 17 December 1949 Page 1 'GALLANTRY OF ABORIGINAL': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42650600
14. The Canberra Times (Canberra, ACT) Saturday 17 December 1949 Page 1 'Aboriginal's Valour in Plane Crash': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2757889
15. Warwick Daily News (Warwick, Qld.) Saturday 17 December 1949 Page 1 'Heroism of Half Caste Stockman in Plane Crash': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/187184823
16. Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga, NSW) Saturday 17 December 1949 Page 5 'Half Caste's Gallantry When Plane Crashes': https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/145545053
17. The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.) Monday 24 October 1949 Page 2 'DENSE AIR' THEORY IN PLANE CRASH: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246028382
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolibah_Station
.

c/no 6384: C of A 6125 issued 12.11.37. Shipped to Australia, erected and re-flown at Sydney, Mascot 17.1.38. Registered VH-UZY [C of R 683] 25.1.38 to W R Carpenter & Co Ltd, Sydney. Operated by North Queensland Airways Ltd, Cairns from 1.10.38, named \\\"Illuka\\\". Sold 25.10.38 and re-registered 1.12.38 to Airlines of Australia Ltd, Cairns, Queensland. Registration cancelled 9.8.40.

Impressed into the RAAF as A33-6 and to 3 EFTS Essendon 12.8.40. To 1 AOS Cootamundra 23.9.40. To 1 AD Laverton 2.6.42. To 32 Squadron, Horn Island 15.6.42. To 33 Squadron, Townsville 3.8.42. To 1 RCF Port Moresby 14.9.42. To 2 AAU Archerfield 10.3.43. To 1 RCS Port Moresby 4.4.43. In May 1943 it was assigned to 2 Air Ambulance Unit but was operated by 1 Rescue & Communication Squadron unless required for ambulance duties. It was probably operated in camouflage and carrying the ADAT callsign VH-CRQ. Damaged by fire and to 15 ARD Port Moresby 30.6.43 for shipment to Mascot and rebuilt. Allotted to DCA 13.11.43 and issued 19.1.44.

Crashed Cape Sidmouth, Queensland 27.1.44. To De Havilland Mascot for repair; shipped 17.3.44 (per SS \\\'Madura\\\') to Airlines (WA) Ltd, Perth for rebuild. This small airline had, like many others, relinquished much of its fleet to RAAF impressments and desperately needed replacements in order to maintain a modicum of service. DCA therefore negotiated to have a RAAF DH.89A released to it.

A33-6 was being stored dismantled at de Havilland Aircraft at Mascot for overhaul, so DCA arranged for it to be shipped to Perth in March 1944 along with spare parts from Rapide VH-UXT, and additional RAAF spares from Melbourne. On arrival in Perth, the aircraft and the spare parts were found to be in extremely poor condition, leading to an acrimonious dispute between Airlines (WA) Ltd and DCA over the purchase price.

Repairs/rebuild completed and first test flown 17.11.44. Registered VH-UZY 19.11.44 to Airlines (WA) Ltd, Perth; named \\\"RMA Perth\\\". Registered 20.10.48 to Connellan Airways Ltd, Alice Springs.

DH.89A Dragon Rapide VH-UZY of Airlines (WA) Ltd at Rottnest Island, WA in February 1947; note 'RMA Perth' Titles on nose.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
30-Dec-2011 10:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ]
10-Mar-2014 03:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total occupants, Location, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
21-Feb-2019 16:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ]
23-Feb-2019 00:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code, Narrative, ]
23-Mar-2025 20:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category, ]
23-Mar-2025 21:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative, ]