VH-ADY Adelaide


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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