Pearce – Edinburgh

On July 31, 1961 at 07:05 PM, Pearce – Edinburgh experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by Royal Australian Air Force - RAAF, with the event recorded near Pearce Western Australia.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

7 people were known to be on board, 4 fatalities were recorded, 3 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 57.1%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 3, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The aircraft and crew had been travelling to a number of locations around Australia on a task for NASA, and were in WA calibrating the Muchea Tracking Station in support of a Project Mercury space launch. They had intended to leave for home base, RAAF Edinburgh in South Australia, earlier in the day, however the calibration had been delayed due to technical difficulties at Muchea which, being a mobile tracking station, was not as electronically stable as the fixed installations. A65-106 finally departed Pearce off Runway 18 after dusk and in passing rain showers. During initial climb, the airplane crashed few km from the airfield. All four crew members were killed while all three passengers were injured. The aircraft was destroyed. Crew: F/O W. J. Bowden, pilot, F/Sgt P. F. Davis, copilot, F/O R. G. White, navigator, F/Lt A. J. Cook, signaller. Passengers: LAC R. A. Leiper, LAC W. Miles, Mr. N. A. McBain. Source: http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/

Aircraft reference details include registration A65-106, MSN 16542/33290, year of manufacture 1945.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -33.6161°, 115.1016°.