Brisbane – Alice Springs – Daly Waters – Batchelor – Darwin

On April 21, 1942 at 09:30 PM, Brisbane – Alice Springs – Daly Waters – Batchelor – Darwin experienced a crash involving Lockheed 14 Super Electra, operated by Guinea Airways, with the event recorded near Pine Creek Northern Territory.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

12 people were known to be on board, 12 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 10, passenger fatalities: 10, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. On the last leg to Darwin, the crew lost his orientation while cruising in rain falls and night. Due to poor visibility, the crew was unable to locate the airport of Darwin and continued over the sea. Few minutes later, pilots realized they were flying over the sea and returned to the continent but could not see the city of Darwin nor its airport. Crew informed ATC he was low of fuel and wanted to land shortly but eventually, the twin engine aircraft hit a mountain slope near Annaburroo Station, in the region of Pine Creek. Rescuers did not find any trace of the aircraft and all operations were suspended few days later. Eventually, the wreckage and all 12 dead bodies were found on June 30, 1942, in an isolated area. The occupants were two pilots and ten US soldiers. The aircraft was built in May 1939 and delivered to Guinea Airways on June 9, 1940.

Aircraft reference details include registration VH-ADY, MSN 1498, year of manufacture 0.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -13.8248°, 131.8369°.