FLYING TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25214, 1 May 1943, Page 5

FLYING TRAGEDY

CRASH OFF AUSTRALIA THIRTEEN PEOPLE MISSING MELBOURNE, Apl. 30. A Qantas flying boat crashed into the sea near a Northern Australian port last Thursday, and 13 of the passengers and crew are missing. Those missing comprise seven members of the R.A.A.F., four American servicemen, and two Australian members of the crew. The search for them has been abandoned. , . , , At least five men were saved, including the commander of the flying boat, Captain A. Koch. The official R.A.A.F. report states that during the flight thick weather was encountered, and visibility became extremely bad. Captain Koch decided to attempt a landing on the open sea, but in the touchdown, owing to the 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 the Qantas flying boat which was shot down by seven Japanese fighters while on a flight from Darwin to Koepang (Timor) on January 30, 1942. A number of the complement were killed. The flying boat was attacked when about 400 feet 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 the land, where they were cared for by natives, and their 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. With more than 10,000 flying hours to his credit, Captain Koch, who is a Tasmanian, entered the' R.A.A.F. in 1926. He joined Qantas Airways in 1938, and was appointed to command flying boats in 1940.