VH-ADY Adelaide
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| Type: | L-14-WF62 Super Electra |
| MSN: | 1498 |
| Previous Identities: | EI-ABW |
| Subsequent Identities: | Nil |
History:
| MAY39 | Construction completed at Burbank. |
| 12MAY39 | Export CofA No E-5048 issued. |
| 17MAY39 | Delivered to Aer Lingus Teoranta. |
| 23JUN39 | Added to the Irish Register as EI-ABW. |
| 10NOV39 | Irish CofA issued. |
| 20MAR40 | Australian Ministerial approval granted for Guinea Airways Ltd to import two Lockheed 14s. Approval was also given for the aircraft to carry Australian markings on their delivery flights to expedite diplomatic clearances. Aircraft were to be purchased through W.S. Shackleton Ltd of London. |
| 13APR40 | Registration application from Guinea Airways Ltd. Subsequently VH-ADY was allocated. |
| 17APR40 | GAL pilots departed Adelaide to collect the aircraft. |
| 15MAY40 | Added to the Australian Register as VH-ADY. |
| 25MAY40 | Struck off the Irish Register on sale to Australia. |
| 29MAY40 | The two L14s departed Dublin on delivery to Australia. The aircraft were painted in camouflage with black Australian registrations underlined with blue/white/red stripes. Note the date conflict with the following entry. |
| 28MAY40 | Arrived at Luqa, Malta from Heston via Marseilles and Tunis at 19:15 hours, departing for Alexandria at 11:35 hours the following day. (Source: 1) Note the date conflict with the previous entry. |
| 09JUN40 | Both L14s arrived at Parafield in the record flying time of 65.5 hours. |
| 10OCT40 | Guinea Airways application for CofA. The aircraft later entered service on the Adelaide-Darwin courier run named "Adelaide". |
| 26MAR41 | Taxied into a car at Alice Springs damaging a fin. |
| 21APR42 | Missing on a flight from Alice Springs to Darwin with ten passengers and two crew. |
| 30JUN42 | Wreckage finally found on a hill on "Annaburroo" Station, north of Pine Creek, N.T. The aircraft was totally destroyed and there had been no survivors. In the subsequent investigation it was determined that the pilots had become lost during a dark and stormy night due to incorrect information being transmitted to them by two ground stations. The ground based HF direction finder operator had troubles with HF propagation because of the time of day and thunderstorm activity. The aircraft overflew Batchelor and Darwin and when the crew found themselves over the sea they radioed that they were turning back on a reciprocal course. Again they overflew Darwin and Batchelor. The final communication from the aircraft indicated that fuel was critical and that they were about to attempt a forced landing in the rain and darkness. Killed were Captain D.G. Cameron, First Officer W.T. Gray and ten USAAF personnel. |
| 14AUG42 | Struck off the Register. |
| SOURCES | |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| Issue | Date | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 13DEC20 |
Added
a reference at 28MAY40 from Source: 1.
|
| 4 | 03APR16 |
Refreshed
page layout with no change to data.
|
| 3 | 02MAY11 |
Amended
the circumstances which led to the crash. Thanks to Dennis Gray.
|
| 2 | 29MAR02 |
Amended
date on to Irish register from 23AUG38 to 23JUN39.
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