THIRTEEN MISSING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 170, 30 April 1943, Page 4

THIRTEEN MISSING.

AUSTRALIAN AIR DISASTER.

FLYING BOAT CRASHES AT SEA. AT LEAST FIVE OTHERS SAVED. (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Received, this day, 12.55 a.m,) MELBOURNE, This Day. A Qantas flying-boat crashed into the sea near a Northern Australian port last Thursday and 13 passengers and .crew are missing. Those missing comprise seven members of the Royal Australian Air Force, four American servicemen and two Australian members of the crew. Search for them has been abandoned.

At least five men, including the commander of the flying-boat, Captain A. Koch, were saved. An official Royal Australian Air Force report states that during the flight thick weather was encountered and visability became extremely bad. Captain Koch decided to attempt a descent on the open sea but, in the touch-down, owing to a heavy sea, the flying-boat was damaged and sank in six minutes. The survivors were in the water for some hours.

Captain Koch was captain of a Qantas flying-boat which was shot down by seven Japanese fighters, while on a flight from Darwin to Koepang and Timor on January 30, 1942. A number of his complement were killed. The flying-boat was attacked when about 400 ft from the water and about to land at the end of its flight. The tail was shot away and the flying boat crashed. Five survivors managed to swim to land, where they were cared for by natives and tlieir wounds and injuries treated. Captain Koch was bombed four times while in Koepang recovering from his injuries, and had been in Darwin hospital only a few days when the Japanese made their big raid on the town on February 19 last year. With more than 10,000 flying hours to his credit, Captain Koch, who is a Tasmanian, entered the R.A.A.F. in 1936. He joined Qantas Airways in 1938 and was appointed to command one of the fly-ing-boats in 1940.