Date:	Thursday 26 December 1929
Time:	18:10 LT
Type:	de Havilland DH.60M Moth
Owner/operator:	Hvalfangstselskapet Kosmos A/S
Registration:	N-42
MSN:	1339
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	west of Scott Island, Ross Sea, Southern Ocean -   Antarctica
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Survey
Departure airport:	Whaling Vessel 'Kosmos', Ross Sea, Southern Ocean, off Antarctica
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
c/no. 1339 DH.60M Floatplane [Gipsy I #691] displayed without marks at Olympia Aero Show (16.7.29 to 27.7.29). To Lief Lier, Norway with C of A 2154 issued 2.8.29; allocated N-40 by Norwegian Consulate, London 30.7.29 and test flown as such, but not taken up.

Registered as N-42 8.8.29 to Kosmos Hvalfangstselskapet A/S, Sandefjord. Operated aboard the whaler "Kosmos" which left Norway for Antarctica 10.8.29.

Written off (destroyed) when lost west of Scott Island, Ross Sea, Southern Ocean, Antarctica, 26.12.29 (or 27.12.29); both crew - Lief Lier (pilot) and Ingvald Schreiner (passenger/observer & Ship's Doctor) - were killed.
The cause of the accident was presumed (but never confirmed) as a structural failure of the airframe in flight. The crew of Moth N-42 were the first aviators to die in an aircraft accident in Antarctica.

Despite search and rescue operations, no trace of the aircraft or the crew was found. On the day that Mr. Lier disappeared, he started at six o’clock in the evening when the summer sun was high in a clear sky. He had with him fuel for five or six hours. His orders were to inspect the ice-pack edge to the west of the "Kosmos". Unfortunately, despite these details, no definitive clues about what happened to them have been found. The incident remains one of the unsolved mysteries in aviation history

As Reported in the Feilding Star, 12 March 1930:

"NEVER SEEN AGAIN
ANTARCTIC WHALING ’PLANE SYSTEMATIC SEARCH IN VAIN
Information regarding the flying tragedy in the Antarctic was gathered when the whaling factory ships, the C. A. Larsen and the St. James Clark Ross, returned to their base at Stewart Island. The aeroplane, which was attached to the factory ship 'Kosmos', left the ship on December 26 with Mr Lief Lier as pilot and Dr. Ingvald Schreiner, the ship’s doctor, as passenger, and failed to return. The aeroplane was taken to the Ross Sea by the 'Kosmos' for scouting. The machine was a great acquisition, as, from a great height, the whales could be easily detected, and the chasers were thereby greatly assisted in their search.

It left the 'Kosmos' on the morning of Boxing Day and carried sufficient fuel for a cruise of five hours. When it failed to return, all the factory ships called in their chasers and instituted a systematic search. The chasers and five factory ships spent a week in searching. All whaling operations were completely suspended. The 'Kosmos' continued the search for a fortnight before finally abandoning hope. The general impression in the whaling fleet is that extreme temperatures have weakened the struts and stays of the machine, which collapsed in mid-air."

Scott Island is a small uninhabited island of volcanic origin in the Ross Sea, Southern Ocean, 505 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of Cape Adare, the northeastern extremity of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is 565 metres (618 yd) long north–south, and between 130 metres (140 yd) and 340 metres (370 yd) wide, reaching a height of 54 metres (177 ft) and covering an area of 4 hectares (9.9 acres).

Registration N-42 cancelled 16.8.30 as "aircraft missing - presumed destroyed"

1. New York Times, December 31 1929: https://www.nytimes.com/1929/12/31/archives/whaling-fliers-lost-in-antarctic-sea-fast-fleet-of-chasers-vainly.html
2.Dominion, 11 October 1929, Page 9: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19291011.2.40.7 [photo of crew]
3. Feilding Star, 12 March 1930, Page 7: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FS19300312.2.72
4. Manawatu Standard, 2 January 1930, Page 7: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19300102.2.48
5. Star (Christchurch), 2 January 1930, Page 9: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19300102.2.74
6. Stephen Haddelsey, Icy Graves, photo caption after p. 158.
7. https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Lier
8. https://web.archive.org/web/20080705032926/http://lardex.net/jahre/skip%20(2)/flk_kosmos.htm
9. http://antarctic-circle.org/firsts.htm
10. https://ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
11. https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/75e487f6-5881-4a83-80c2-fa70752fed65/content
12. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p013.html
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missing_aircraft#1920%E2%80%931939
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Island

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
09-Dec-2011 13:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
30-Aug-2017 19:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
30-Aug-2017 19:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
30-Aug-2017 19:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
21-Sep-2017 08:04	TB	Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
20-Nov-2022 20:34	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]
20-Nov-2022 20:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
23-Dec-2023 18:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]