Date:	Saturday 23 March 1946
Time:	c. 18:15 LT
Type:	Avro 691 Lancastrian C.1
Owner/operator:	Qantas, lsf BOAC
Registration:	G-AGLX
MSN:	1178
Engine model:	Rolls-Royce Merlin
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Aircraft missing
Category:	Accident
Location:	Indian Ocean off Cocos (Keeling) Islands -   Indian Ocean
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Negombo RAF Station (CMB/VCBI)
Destination airport:	Cocos Islands Airport (CCK/YPCC)

Narrative:
Avro 691 Lancastrian G-AGLX went missing (presumed destroyed) 23 March 1946 when disappeared on a scheduled flight between Negombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

The Avro 691 Lancastrian was operating on a flight from the United Kingdom to Australia. (Routed London – Karachi – Colombo – Cocos Island – Sydney). The initial stages to Karachi were carried out by BOAC. The continuing legs from Karachi to Colombo, Cocos Islands, Perth, Gawler and Sydney were carried out by Qantas. Lancastrian G-AGLX was a former RAF Lancaster bomber, converted for civilian use.

Reportedly the departure from Colombo's Negombo RAF Station was delayed for two hours because of a fault in the plane's radio equipment. After departing for the flight across the Indian Ocean to the Cocos Islands, the crew radioed position reports. The last position report received was at 18:00 hours Perth time. The scheduled report at 18:30 was never received and the aircraft was reported missing.

The point at which the Lancastrian last reported, north of Cocos Islands was within the inter-tropic area where the weather front was probably at its worst over the whole route. An extensive search failed to find a trace of the aircraft, even a “faint undecipherable signal, such as could have originated from a dinghy transmitter", was picked up by a searching R.A.F. Liberator based on the Cocos Islands, shortly before dusk on March 24.

As reported in a contemporary newspaper (The Geraldton Guardian and Express 27 Mar 1946)

"Missing Air Liner
MISSING AIR LINE EXTENSIVE SEARCH
NO SIGNS REPORTED
VAST AREA OF OCEAN SCANNED
Perth. March 27
While the search for the missing Qantas Lancastrian and its ten occupants is proceeding in the sector north-west of Cocos Island — where the plane was last reported— the search on Australia-Cocos section -- of the route has been intensified by the addition of another civil aircraft. Fifteen planes operating from Ceylon, Cocos, Learmonth, Darwin and Java are covering a huge area of the Indian Ocean in an effort to locate either the plane or its dinghies. No further radio signal has been picked up and the effort to locate the source of those heard faintly on Sunday night has not been successful.

Planes searching the ocean, along the known route and on the route planned, yesterday spent a fruitless day. Coast watchers and those on the sea had nothing to report and there were no further unexplained radio signals to provide a clue to the whereabouts of the G-AGLX or its survivors. Nevertheless, the search is being pressed with additional searchers concentrating on the Cocos-Learmonth section of the route, since Capt. Frank Thomas, commander of the G-AGLX, made his pre-flight plan with Leurmonth as his alternative land fall should he have to by-pass Cocos Island for any reason. The occurrence, which shut down his radio between 6 p.m. and 6.3O p.m. on Saturday night might also have caused him to exclude Cocos and choose Learmonth as his objective.

This morning at 6 o'clock the Mac-Robertson-Miller Aviation Company Ltd. at the request of Qantas, dispatched a DH-86 aircraft under the command of Capt. J. Woods to Learmonth. From that point Capt. Woods will examine the coast and areas of the ocean for signs of the missing plane or its personnel. Qantas as has delayed movement of its aircraft on the Australia-England service so that they will traverse the search area in daylight. Altogether there are now fifteen air craft, including three R.A.A.F. planes, two Catalinas and a Liberator occupied in scouring the ocean and adjacent coasts.

Three of the five passengers on the missing Lancastrian are Sydney business men. All five members of the crew are from New South Wales and four of them have Sydney suburban addresses".

The Qantas crew consisted of
Capt. Frank Thomas
First Officer McClelland,
Navigating Officer Nuske,
Radio Officer McBean,
Flight Steward Porteous

And the passengers:
Mr. Jack. Dobson: he was the son of AVRO's Managing Director, Roy H. (later Sir Roy) Dobson. Jack Dobson was on his way to Australia to help launch Avro Lincoln production.
Mr. J. Knight,
Mr. H. Marshland,
Mr. J. H. Vose,
Mr. H. E. Wittey

As the aircraft was not recovered, it was not possible to determine the exact cause of the accident. Registration G-AGLX formally cancelled by the Air Ministry on 23 March 1946 as "Lost at Sea"

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Cocos Islands Malay: Pulu Kokos [Keeling]), officially the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Cocos Islands Malay: Pulu Kokos [Keeling]), are an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, comprising a small archipelago approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka and relatively close to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The territory's dual name (official since the islands' incorporation into Australia in 1955) reflects that the islands have historically been known as either the Cocos Islands or the Keeling Islands.

1. The West Australian 26 Mar 1946: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/50332493
2. The Geraldton Guardian and Express 27 Mar 1946: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/6540382
3. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AGLX.pdf
4. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-691-lancastrian-i-indian-ocean-10-killed
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancastrian#Accidents_and_incidents
6. https://www.planecrashinfo.com/1946/1946-17.htm
7. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/582405-avro-lancastrian-tales-10.html#post9567026
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Qantas_fatal_accidents
9. https://airport-data.com/aircraft/G-AGLX.html
10. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/141683-70th-anniversary-of-lancastrian-loss
11. https://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=VF
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocos_(Keeling)_Islands

Originally ordered as an Avro Lancaster B Mk. III PD146, re-serialled as VF165 when order amended to be built as an Avro 691 Lancastrian. However, never wore military markings as civil registrated 1 December 1944 to BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) as G-AGLX (C of A 7122; C of R 9553/44) with a \"home port\" of RAF Lyneham, later Hurn Airport, Bournemouth. After the above incident, the registration G-AGLX formally cancelled by the Air Ministry on 23 March 1946 as \"Lost at Sea\"

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Mar-2024 19:41	Anon.	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
14-Mar-2025 15:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative, ]