ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 26333
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| Date: | Monday 30 September 1935 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | de Havilland DH.84 Dragon Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | W.R. Carpenter |
| Registration: | VH-URO |
| MSN: | 6068 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Black Cat Trail, Bitoi Gap, Morobe -
 Papua New Guinea
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Salamaua, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Wau, Bulolo, Morobe Province, New Guinea | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
1.3.34: Built at Edgware as production Dragon II
6.3.34: First flight at Stag Lane
10.3.34: British CofA issued as VH-URO
3.34: Shipped from England to Perth for WA Airways
17.4.34: Arrived Fremantle on board S. S. Moreton Bay
18.4.34: Registration application: West Australian Airways Ltd, Perth WA
21.4.34: Registered VH-URO
21.4.34: C of A issued Maylands. 6 passenger seats. Colour scheme dark royal blue with silver wings and tail.
24.4.34: Entered service with West Australian Airways Ltd, departed on Perth-Adelaide service. Carried 6 passengers on the Adelaide service, later increased seating installed. Not fitted with a toilet at first, but later a toilet was installed. Carried emergency rations of 1 pound of biscuits but no water. Mainly used on the Perth-Adelaide service
22.5.34: Forced landing 12 miles west of Forrest due fuel exhaustion, no damage. Captain James Woods.
1.6.34: Official date for C of A issue
3.7.34: Departed Perth on scheduled service to Adelaide, Captain Len Diprose as pilot.
8.7.34: Log entry: Forrest-Perth, Captain Len Diprose as pilot
10.34: West Australian Airways Ltd lost the North West Service to MMA after its lower tender price was accepted by the Government. West Australian Airways Ltd was left with only the marginally-profitable East-West service and forced to liquidate non-essential assets. Dragon VH-URO was offered for sale.
4.12.34: Forced landing Zanthus WA due vapour lock in starboard engine, no damage. Pilot, Captain Len Diprose on East-West service
19.12.34: Log entry: Flown Perth-Adelaide by West Australian Airways Ltd. Pilot, Captain Len Diprose preparatory to sale
28.12.34: Change of ownership: W. R. Carpenter & Co Ltd, Salamaua, New Guinea. Purchased by W. R. Carpenter & Co Ltd to replace their DH.83 VH-UQQ, which crashed 16.12.34 at Black Cat Gap, New Guinea, based Salamaua. This plane VH-URO was a replacement plane for a plane known as "Jill" owned by W.R. Carpenter & Co. Was flown from Adelaide by Colin Ferguson and my mother Joan. Leaving Adelaide in early January 1935 they arrived at Salamaua in Papua New Guinea in record time on the 26th January 1935. Joan was the first woman to fly from Australia to New Guinea. Colin whilst taking supplies from Salamaua to the Black Cat mining area
26.1.35: Arrived Salamaua, New Guinea
30.9.35: Written off (destroyed) when crashed into trees at Black Cat Range, in Bitoi Gap near Wau, New Guinea. Had departed Salamaua on a freight flight to Wau, pilot Colin R. Ferguson seriously injured. Wreckage located wedged in tree tops 30 feet above the ground. Ferguson had been hurled from the cockpit and died 9 hours later while being carried overland to Wau. Aircraft wrecked. M.A."Joe" Taylor who was a ground engineer with W.R.Carpenter recalls:
"Colin Ferguson was eventually killed in the crash of the Dragon VH-URO on 30.9.35, up in the Bitoi Valley. He had done a number of trips that day and we were standing leaning on the wing and talking when he said "I think I'll do another trip". It was a bit late in the day, as we used to get the flying over as early as possible, but off he went. It was his last trip.
Colin didn't come back that night. We contacted Wau and found he hadn't arrived there so we knew something had happened. Eddie Sutcliffe had been flying out of Wau at the time and he said he saw Col fly in underneath the clouds, whereas he stayed above them. I flew up to Wau when the wreckage was located and walked in to where the aircraft was. It was in a saddle in the mountains with the 10,000 feet high Mount Thompson on one side and another mountain on the other. One could get through the gap at about 6,000 feet in good visibility but there had been a strong wind blowing and he just couldn't get over the saddle - by a margin of only a few feet."
1.10.35: Struck-off Register as "destroyed"
Sources:
1. Information was from my Mother Joan Tarlinton (nee Ferguson) and from the book "Wings of Gold - Aviation in Papua New Guinea
2. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=84&Itemid=20
3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148247145/view
4. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austu/VH-URO.html
5. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh84-pt1/dh84-dragon-pt1.htm
6. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH84.pdf
7. https://www.tageo.com/index-e-pp-v-14-d-m3025964.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 06-May-2009 22:11 | phillip tarlinton | Updated |
| 29-Dec-2011 13:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 08-May-2014 19:48 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 29-Oct-2022 23:44 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 29-Oct-2022 23:45 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Category] |
| 25-Jun-2023 10:48 | Ron Averes | Updated [[Category]] |
| 26-Jun-2023 04:46 | Ron Averes | Updated [[[Category]]] |
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