ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 301383
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| Date: | Tuesday 31 December 1940 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Avro 594 Avian II |
| Owner/operator: | Eric Stanbridge |
| Registration: | ZS-AAC |
| MSN: | R3/AV/122 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Aasvoëlkop, near Piketberg, Bergrivier, Western Cape -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Cape Town, South Africa |
c/no R3/AV/122 Avro 594 Avian II: C of A 1192 issued 23.8.27 to Aero Club of South Africa. Presented to club by Shell Petrol Co of South Africa and handed over to Shell at Woodford, Cheshire 23.8.27; painted in Shell’s gold and red colours. Registered as G-UAAC 24.8.27 to Capetown Flying Club, Cape Town. Re-registered ZS-AAC in 1.29. According to one source (see link #2), this Avian survived until "the early 1940s";
"The first Avian to find its way to South Africa was ZS-AAC. She became the first civilian and only the third aircraft to be registered in South Africa. ZS-AAC was imported into South Africa during 1927 by the Shell Company, and was test flown by Lt. R. R. Bentley, a flight instructor in the SAAF, who had completed the first official solo flight from London to Cape Town in a de Havilland DH-60 Moth. Bentley left London on 1 September 1927, and arrived in Cape Town on 28 September.
After having spent his honeymoon in Cape Town, Bentley repeated his feat and flew all the way back to London, becoming the first pilot do so. Bentley was awarded the Britannia Trophy for the most meritorious aviation performance of the year.
Shell donated the Avian to the then Cape Town Flying Club based at Young's Field, Wynberg. She had a rather chequered career and was involved in four crashes, the first and most serious happening in December 1927 when she struck a ditch and suffered serious damage upon landing at Riebeeck West.
She changed hands several times and was again crashed this time at Wingfield Airfield where the wreckage remained for some time until she was saved by Eric Stanbridge a Cape Town pilot who was trained by a Major Kromhout.
Stephen, Eric's son recalled his father telling him that he and his brother-in-law, Tom approached a Major Kromhout telling him that they would like to learn to fly. Major Kromhout suggested that instead of wasting their time and money he take them up for a flight to establish if they, in his words "were airworthy." After a nightmarish series of loops, spins and dives which Eric survived without any adverse effects, Tom unfortunately did not, Eric was accepted for training and earned his wings.
Eric and Tom were owners of a joinery company in Vasco, Cape Town. The building still survives to this day. Besides ZS-AAC one or more Avians were in the meantime imported and one had crashed and Eric bought the wreck for spares and he and Tom rebuilt the Avian in the shop. Their experience with working with wood stood them to good stead during the rebuilt of the wood and cloth Avian. Whatever parts they did not have the made.
In early in October 1939 the Avian was test flown by Vincent Doherty. Doherty was born in Cape Town in 1909. In 1932 he enlisted in the Royal Air Force and in 1937 returned to South Africa and enlisted in the SAAF as a monitor of pilots of Spitfire and Harvards.
Eric flew the Avian extensively, often landing her on the beach at Melkbos Strand. Playing on the beach during one of the landings was a youngster by the name of Bubbles Koch. Koch would later become a Springbuck rugby player and represent South Africa in New Zealand as part of the Springbok team that toured there in 1949.
Some years later Koch met Stephen and recounted one such landing on the beach. "The Avian," Koch said, "approached low as my friend's and I watched and to our surprise landed close to the water's edge but then slewed and ended up in the water. We immediately rushed to help and pulled the aircraft out of the water. Your father got out, found a rag, and cleaned and dried some parts as we stood by and then started the engine and leaning out offered me a ride. I was not getting into that thing and told him so."
The Avian's last flight happened in the early 1940s. Eric was flying up the West Coast when close to Piketberg the weather closed in and he crashed into the mountain. Fortunately he was only slightly injured and extracting himself from the wreck he walked down the mountain and met the farm owner who assisted him to get back to Cape Town.
A law was in place during the war years prohibiting the removal of any aircraft wreckage. Eric had no choice and for a number of years the wreck remained in the open, the wood rotted, the covering disintegrated and the metal parts rusted. The Avian had survived a number of crashes but this time the crash as well as the ravishes of the Cape weather had damaged her beyond repair and Eric reluctantly gave the farmer permission to burn what was left".
Piketberg (also sometimes spelt Piquetberg in the past) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa, located about 80 km east of Saldanha Bay. Note that the above source does not give an exact date for the demise of ZS-AAC (other than "the early 1940s"), However, the website does show a fuel ration card for this aircraft dated 31.12.40, so it may be presumed that ZS-AAC was still flying up to that date. In the absence of an exact date the date of "31.12.40" is purely nominal, as that was the last date of the proven documented existence of ZS-AAC
Sources:
1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/avian.pdf
2. http://pilotspost.co.za/arn0001127
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-UA.html
4. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-south-africa-register
5. https://geotargit.com/index.php?qcountry_code=ZA&qregion_code=03&qcity=Aasvogelkop
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piketberg
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Nov-2022 18:51 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 19-Nov-2022 18:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 19-Nov-2022 18:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 19-Nov-2022 18:58 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Category] |
| 19-Nov-2022 19:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 19-Nov-2022 19:06 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Category] |
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