1940 Canberra air disaster

1940 Canberra air disaster
Wreckage of A16-97
Accident
Date13 August 1940
SummaryStall on landing
SiteCanberra, Australian Capital Territory
35°19′06″S 149°13′45″E / 35.3184°S 149.2293°E / -35.3184; 149.2293
Aircraft
Aircraft typeLockheed Hudson
OperatorRoyal Australian Air Force
RegistrationA16-97
Flight originEssendon Airport
DestinationCanberra Airport
Occupants10
Passengers6
Crew4
Fatalities10
Survivors0
Two Australian Lockheed Hudsons in 1940

The 1940 Canberra air disaster was an aircraft crash that occurred near Canberra, the capital of Australia, on 13 August 1940, during World War II. All ten people on board were killed: six passengers, including three members of the Australian Cabinet and the Chief of the General Staff; and four crew.[1] The aircraft is believed to have stalled on its landing approach, when it was too low to recover.

The deaths of the three cabinet ministers severely weakened the United Australia Party government of Robert Menzies and contributed to its fall in 1941.[2]

  1. ^ "Nation Mourns Victims of Air Disaster" (scan). Canberra Times. 15 August 1940. p. 2 – via Trove.
  2. ^ Tink, Andrew "Air Disaster Canberra: the plane crash that destroyed a government Archived 9 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine". NewSouth Books. 1 April 2013, ISBN 9781742233574, Retrieved 17 April 2013 via boffinsbookshop.com.au