ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 65866
Last updated: 15 October 2021
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| Date: | 05-OCT-1953 |
| Time: | 20:14 |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR Mk 41 |
| Owner/operator: | Aubrey J.R. Oates, Sydney NSW/KLG Sparkplugs |
| Registration: | VH-KLG |
| MSN: | (ex. A52-324) |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | beach at Megui, Southern Burma. -
 Myanmar
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Cocos Island |
| Colombo |
Mosquito VH-KLG (ex.A52-324) The Australian-built, ex-RAAF Mosquito was a private entry in the 1953 London to Christchurch air race.
Crew:
S/Ldr (Aus.260822) Aubrey John Raymond OATES DFC (pilot) ex.RAAF - Ok
F/Lt (Aus.410791) Douglas Hereward SWAIN DFC (nav.) ex.RAAF - Ok
The Mossie was on its way to London for the start of the race.
On the 3rd of October the plane left Perth, Western Australia for Cocos Island, but was forced to turn back by 120 mile per hour winds, landing at Carnarvon.
The following day they took off again and reached Cocos, about 1,800 statute miles from Perth.
They departed Cocos for Colombo in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, a journey of 1,760 statute miles at 5:16pm Sydney time with an estimated time of arrival of 12:06 am .
At 12:43 am the first of a series of distress calls was heard from the aircraft by ground stations.
At 2:30 am Cocos Island Aeradio heard a message saying that the plane was running out of fuel, and at 4:44 am Port Hedland heard the Mosquito report " ditching near a group of four islands" , followed at 4:55 am by "aircraft approaching coast ".
At 5:04 am the message " QAL-5 " or landing in 5 minutes, was received.
The glossy, dark red-painted Mosquito made a forced landing on the beach at Megui.
Oates and Swain both sustained minor injuries and were rescued from muddy water by local fishermen.
Fourteen hours later an RAF search located the plane and the two fliers were rescued.
They were about 1,300 miles off their course to Colombo.
Both the fliers subsequently died in air accidents. "Titus" Oates was killed in a crop dusting crash in South Africa, while Doug. Swain died piloting an airliner that flew into terrain in bad weather in New South Wales, Australia.
(Completed as a PR41 and renumbered as Mosquito A52-324. 07/05/48 2 AD. 28/05/48 3 AD Archerfield QLD. Stored. 06/11/52 Sold to A Oates DFC to compete in the England to New Zealand Air Race. It became VH-KLG in recognition of the spark-plug manufacturer who sponsored the flight. 10/53 Ditched off the coast of Burma due to fuel exhaustion when en-route to England for the start of the race (Wilson p.192).)
Sources:
http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
http://www.adf-gallery.com.au//2a52.shtml
Related books:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Jun-2009 21:53 | angels one five | Added |
| 20-Jun-2009 22:07 | angels one five | Updated |
| 25-Mar-2010 12:53 | Anon. | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 29-May-2010 19:28 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 29-Mar-2011 05:10 | Nepa | Updated [Registration, Source, Narrative] |
| 29-Jun-2014 23:46 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 09-Jul-2014 07:56 | harryo | Updated [Time] |
| 11-Aug-2014 16:37 | J.Paco | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Narrative] |
| 21-Jul-2015 16:18 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Feb-2019 20:19 | Nepa | Updated [Cn, Operator, Narrative, Operator] |
| 18-Feb-2019 16:38 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator] |
| 19-May-2019 14:09 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator] |
| 15-Jun-2021 10:38 | Anon. | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Narrative, Operator] |
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