Hi Admin,
Although I do not have a photo of this aircraft on the database, I wondered if you might care to put a note on the record due to the unique circumstances surrounding the aircraft. I have put together this note, which you may care to amend as you see fit. :-
In October 1954, this de Havilland Dragon crashed into a creek near Archerfield airport in Queensland, killing the owner/pilot and his 13 year old son. His 11 year old son was dragged from the wreckage and survived.
The aircraft had been built in 1934 by de Havilland in England and was registered G-ACRF. In 1936 it was imported into Australia, where it was registered as VH-UXG.
The wreckage was rebuilt using original jigs imported from England, and was owned and flown by the boy saved from the accident in 1954. The aircraft, resplendent in its red livery, was a regular attraction at airshows and fly-ins in eastern Australia.
On Monday, October 2, it was returning from a fly-in at Monto, Queensland to its home base at Caboolture with the owner, his wife and two other couples on board, when the pilot reported being in low cloud and running low on fuel. Nothing further was heard from the plane. After two days of searching by up to 15 helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft, the wreckage was found just below the ridge of a heavily wooded hill west of Nambour. The aircraft was unrecognisable and there were no survivors.