Date:	Friday 29 May 1942
Time:	morning
Type:	de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide
Owner/operator:	Australian National Airways
Registration:	VH-UXZ
MSN:	6365
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Marriott Reef, off Tanners Bay, Flinders Island, Tasmania -   Australia
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Pat's River Aerodrome, Flinders Island, Tasmania
Destination airport:	Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria (MED/YMEB)

Narrative:
C of A 5964 issued 1.7.37. Shipped to Australia, erected and test flown at Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria 11.9.37. Registered VH-UXZ [C of R 662] 15.9.37 to Australian National Airways Pty Ltd, Essendon; named "Marika"

Written off 29.5.42 when crashed into the sea at Tanners Bay, Flinders Island, Tasmania. Aircraft was attempting to land on one engine after returning to Flinders Island following an engine failure after departing for Melbourne. Struck the sea at Marriott Reef off Tanners Bay. All four persons on board were killed:

Captain Weston, Charles Richard Godby, ANA (Pilot)
Mr Self, Harry H (Passenger)
L/AC Leaman, Henry David (passenger)
Pte Giblin, Robert Gerald, ACMF V18572 (Passenger)

As reported in a contemporary local newspaper (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (Newcastle NSW) Sat 30 May 1942 Page 1 PLANE FORCED INTO SEA)

"PLANE FORCEDINTO SEA
Four Lives Lost
BUKRNIE (Tasmania), Friday.

Three passengers and the pilot lost their lives when the Marika, a DeHavilland 89 Rapide plane, owned by Australian National Airways, was forced down into the sea off Flinders Island on a flight from the mainland to Western Junction, via Flinders Island this morning.

The occupants were a leading aircraftsman and a member of the military forces, both of Hobart. Mr. H. H. Self. of King's Island, and Captain Weston. The last message from the plane received at Western Junction said the plane was having engine trouble and flying on one engine at 600ft.

It was then about 30 miles from Whitemark. A later message received in Melbourne advised that the plane had passed Cape Franklin. No further messages were picked up.

The machine was sighted off Flinders Island coast by a passenger plane en-route to Melbourne. The bodies of Weston and Self were washed ashore. The others are believed to have been trapped in the cabin of the machine".

Wreck less engines was salvaged from sea by ANA. One engine was discovered and retrieved in 1992. On 30.6.42: Struck-off Register

NOTE:To slightly confuse matters there is a DH.89A flying in Australia (and has been since 28.3.2014) marked as "VH-UXZ". This is not, of course, the above aircraft, but a replica based on a long term (31 years!) rebuild of a DH.89 that is mostly derived from the former RAF NR713, latterly G-AJSL.

1. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh89/dh89.htm
2. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-UXZ.html
3. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_National_Airways#Notable_accidents
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_VH-U1.html
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/city/tanners-bay-flinders-island
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p063.html
8. Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (Newcastle NSW) Sat 30 May 1942 Page 1 PLANE FORCED INTO SEA: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140420236
9. Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Maryborough, Qld.) Sat 30 May 1942 Page 3 National Airways Plane Crashes in Bass Strait: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/152800607
10. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Weston-5880
11. https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/915231
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinders_Island
.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
19-Jul-2011 17:04	angels one five	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Damage, Narrative, ]
25-Jan-2012 00:07	Phyl	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, ]
10-Mar-2014 03:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
10-Mar-2014 03:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, ]
20-Feb-2019 00:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
20-Feb-2019 17:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative, ]
19-Mar-2025 01:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative, Category, ]
19-Mar-2025 01:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
19-Mar-2025 01:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, ]