Honiara - Honiara

On September 9, 1944 at 12:00 PM, Honiara - Honiara experienced a crash involving Lockheed PV-1 Ventura, operated by Royal New Zealand Air Force - RNZAF, with the event recorded near Solomon Islands All Solomon Islands.

The flight was categorized as bombing and the reported phase was flight at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 5 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The crew was engaged in a bombing mission over Rabaul with two other similar aircraft and left Honiara at 0525LT. While approaching the target, NZ4614 disappeared and apparently crashed into the Solomon Sea. The crew of both other aircraft started a SAR mission to find the wreckage but without success. All operations were eventually suspended on September 17 as no trace of the aircraft was found. As the Japanese forces evacuated the region in February 1944, it was concluded the crash was not caused by enemy action. Crew: F/Lt Roye Stevens, F/O John Carson, W/O Geoffrey Innes, P/O Stanley Dawson, F/O John McGuire.

Aircraft reference details include registration NZ4614, MSN 6270, year of manufacture 1944.