Wyndham – Coolibah – Tennant Creek

On October 21, 1949 at 01:00 PM, Wyndham – Coolibah – Tennant Creek experienced a crash involving De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide, operated by Connellan Airways, with the event recorded near Coolibah Northern Territory.

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

1 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. The pilot George C. 'Colin' Johnston was performing a flight from Wyndham to Tennant Creek with an intermediate stop in Coolibah, NT. The twin engine aircraft landed at 1210LT and some mail was delivered to the pilot who took off at 1300LT. Shortly after liftoff, while in initial climb, the aircraft banked left and crashed in a huge explosion. The pilot was killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration VH-UZY, MSN 6384, year of manufacture 1937.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -15.5514°, 130.9609°.