Townsville – Cooktown – Iron Range

On February 14, 1946 at 02:45 PM, Townsville – Cooktown – Iron Range experienced a crash involving Noorduyn Norseman, operated by Royal Australian Air Force - RAAF, with the event recorded near Lockhart River Queensland.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

3 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

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

The listed crash cause is weather. Departed Cairns for Iron Range Camp, stopped at Cooktown for fuel then encountered severe weather conditions near Iron Range. Radio contact was lost and the aircraft reported missing. An aerial search was mounted over the next four days by RAAF and civilian search planes. Five days later, a Catalina located the wreckage near the old Claudie bush strip 10 miles south of Iron Range. A RAAF Court of Enquiry determined that the aircraft crashed after it struck a tree at 1445LT when trying to land at Claudie strip in bad weather. The aircraft was destroyed and all three on board were killed. Access to crash site was impossible because of flood waters. Crew: F/O Colin William Law, F/Sgt John Brian Crawford, F/Sgt George Morris Geisel. Source: http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/

Aircraft reference details include registration A71-4, MSN 182, year of manufacture 1943.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -13.0453°, 143.3050°.