VH-UZK  Douglas DC-3-232                   (c/n   2003)

                          
                          
                               Photos of VH-UZK are rare.  The above is from the Macarthur Job collection, whilst that below
                               comes from Barry Maclean, and is a take off from an old ANA print showing passengers deplaning
                               "Kurana" at Essendon in 1944.   Of note in the background on this image are the RAAF C-47
                               VHCTA 'The Arunta' (later to become VH-ANY ) along with the Douglas DC-5 VHCXC having
                               just taken off.      At the foot of the page is a photo from an album of Sally E. Douglas taken by her
                               father, Eric, and thought to have been at Launceston in 1938.  VH-UZK was delivered  to Australian
                               National Airways Pty Ltd in December of 1937.     It was loaned ('chartered' was the term used) to
                               the RAAF at the outset of WW II and assumed the military identity A30-2.     It was released back
                               to the airline in 1940.     On 8 November 1948 the aircraft departed Essendon (at 07.26) on a flight
                               to Deniliquin, NSW. It was observed in the area of Mt. Macedon at very low altitude at around 07.40.
                               The aircraft struck the cloud-covered mountain near the summit shortly afterward.       The conclusion
                               of the resultant investigation was that the pilot had deviated some 9 miles to port from the track called
                               for in his Flight Plan and failed to comply with the requirements of the VFR, thus violating the conditions
                               of his flight clearance.  The shot of the crash site at the bottom of the page is from the CAHS archives.