The crash of the Southern Cloud - 21 March 1931

[old man emu]

Australia's first airline disaster was the crash of the Australian National Airways Fokker Southern Cloud whilst en route from Sydney to Melbourne on Saturday 21st March 1931. The aircraft was operated by a company set up by Charles Kingsford-Smith and others.

 

If you are an aviation enthusiast, you probably have read later accounts of the disappearance of the plane, and its subsequent accidental discovery near Cabrumurra on 29 October 1958. However, to get a sense of the initial drama of the incident, you should read the contemporary news reports.

 

Use this link The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954) - 22 Mar 1931 - p1 to start reading the story. Just a short notice that the plane was overdue. When you've read that, hover your cursor over the navigation icon showing the date of issue of the paper. A drop down menu will appear. Click on Next and the next day's issue will load. You can click on the arrows adjacent to Articles from page .. to go through the paper.

 

A short weather forecast is here: The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954) - 21 Mar 1931 - p2

 

I couldn't fine a digitised newspaper reporting the discovery of the wreckage on 29 October 1958, but in November of that year, the Women's Weekly did a two page story which dramatises the event.

 

The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) - 12 Nov 1958 - p4

 

The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) - 12 Nov 1958 - p5

 

You might like to use Google Maps to identify the locations of alleged sightings of the Southern Cloud on the 21st, and compare them to the location of the crash

 

Of interest is an item in the Sun on 21st March 1931 describing an award to Smithy.

 

The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954) - 21 Mar 1931 - p1

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

[BLA82]

Interesting read

 

 

[Ron5335]

Thanks OME for the post.

 

The Southern Cloud left Sydney at 0815 and the weather bureau didn't open until 0900 and was out of range by the time the

 

the details of the extreme weather event that formed overnight came through (Deepening East Coast Low).

 

This crash resulted in the Weather Bureau becoming a 24/7 service.

 

Having a place in the Snowy Mountains and mixing with a few early aviators, I have been able to view the seat frames from the Southern Cloud, and

 

it looks like it went in hard sideways, similar damage to what you would expect by trying to escape from a narrow valley.

 

Below is an extract of a statement from a Tumbarumba resident (From ABC Documentary) that was discounted at the time

 

DOREEN PHILBY, TUMBARUMBA RESIDENT: All of a sudden we heard a terrible roar come up over the house. We all looked up and saw this plane.

 

 

 

And it was really close; it just touched the top of the trees. Being a kid I was mesmerised. And all of a sudden I saw these two fellows, one in that side, one that side, with two white handkerchiefs waving out the windows.

 

 

 

RON FREW: It was clearly looking for somewhere to land; it was probably running out of fuel. There's even a story that Tom found a sick bag and on that written flying low, visibility very bad.

 

 

 

[old man emu]

For Victorian readers, here's the line to the coverage in The Age. The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) - 23 Mar 1931 - p7

 

There are some good pictures here:

 

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjWktLL5KDTAhULwrwKHeQWCHUQFghRMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fnews%2Fvictoria%2Fthe-southern-cloud-crashed-killing-eight-but-it-took-27-years-to-find%2Fnews-story%2F3689cd85055eb0db81cd1bd662e23448&usg=AFQjCNG4qwNoYah2iXhgb9YkbOUFUr0tLg&sig2=KV5BGCj6k-ilvrCiHY3jWQ

 

 

[Deskpilot]

For Victorian readers, here's the line to the coverage in The Age. The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) - 23 Mar 1931 - p7There are some good pictures here:

 

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjWktLL5KDTAhULwrwKHeQWCHUQFghRMAc&url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/the-southern-cloud-crashed-killing-eight-but-it-took-27-years-to-find/news-story/3689cd85055eb0db81cd1bd662e23448&usg=AFQjCNG4qwNoYah2iXhgb9YkbOUFUr0tLg&sig2=KV5BGCj6k-ilvrCiHY3jWQ

Link doesn't open for me OMU

 

 

[old man emu]

Don't know what's wrong DP. The link just opened for me.

 

 

[facthunter]

It transferred me to subscribe to the Herald, which I wouldn't be interested in.

 

I friend I had (since deceased) spent a lot of time looking for that aircraft. When I commenced flying it ( the high alpine country) was all designated as a "remote" area. I've encountered the most extreme icing event myself at around Kiandra (south of Canberra) when the forecast has "NIL Icing" There were strong headwinds on that occasion.

 

. The method used by the pilots at the time the Southern Cloud was flying SY-MEL, relied a lot on "best guess" of actual groundspeed where a visual fix wasn't available at regular intervals. It was all pretty chancy and the pilots had a prescriptive way (individually) of getting there. Icing of the type likely on a bad daywould make maintaining height above a level adequate to clear terrain difficult or impossible. With the steep slopes and dense tree cover it remained a mystery for a surprisingly long time. Once the undergrowth covered it you would just about have to trip over part of it to see it. Nev

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I'm surprised that pilots flew over the high country in anything but ideal weather. A diversion inland wouldn't have added much to the trip.

 

 

[turboplanner]

I'm surprised that pilots flew over the high country in anything but ideal weather. A diversion inland wouldn't have added much to the trip.

I think it's the scarcity of passes. I can remember the brothers who flew from the coast to western NSW on Christmas Eve/Day in a 210 to check the stock troughs and hit the ground on the way back, the bookies, and one lit who iced up and lost control 4 minutes from the let down point into Canberra, miraculously saving it.

 

 

[Virago]

The rego of the Southern Cloud was VH-UMF. I didn't know this at the time I bought a 1976 Beech C23 Sundowner which was also VH-UMF. I owned that aircraft for nearly five years in the mid 80's. I have no idea where it is now. John.

 

 

[Ron5335]

I'm surprised that pilots flew over the high country in anything but ideal weather. A diversion inland wouldn't have added much to the trip.

They Didn't.

 

The planned flights went from Sydney, then they took bearings for the flight from Goulburn, Albury/Wagga then onto Melbourne, and on cloudy days they would descend through the cloud, take the reference point then climb back up and onto the next point.

 

That day had 100% cloud cover with an unforecasted gale from the S/W, blowing them to the N/E, so when they descended looking for flat open area of Albury (Elev. 165m) due to the wind, they were much North & East of there assumed position and found themselves over the western edge of the Great Divide..... Tumbarumba (Elev 465m) - Cabramurra (Elev 1488m).

 

With such a wind blowing onto the face of the mountains, they would have then been battling Ridge Lift then severe Rotor as they were driven further East.

 

 

[Deskpilot]

FWIW Link opened when I clicked on it in your quote OME. Strange things happen.

 

 

[old man emu]

FWIW Link opened when I clicked on it in your quote OME. Strange things happen.

Good. I hate it when links don't work, especially if they are meant to add to the quality of the story - and my stories need lots of added quality ( Bex et al)

 

 

[facthunter]

Don't set too high a standard. Nev

 

 

[JerzyGeorge]

I did fly over the spot they went down in my Savannah in clear skies ,

 

Did not descend onto steep valley where the place is fearing rotor from the mountains , looked down from high above and hair stood up at the back of my neck imagining what was it like in bad weather and poor visibility, Did two orbits and flew back to Tumut quickly happy to leave tiger country behind my tail