Tim E

Wondering if anyone would like to share their memories of visits to Drage Airworld here in Wangaratta here a few years ago..what they saw, what they remember..any aircraft that stand out in your memories? Is the collection fairly scattered now or still together? :)

Plane Crash Benalla Yes..should give us some information..and maybe allow further invetigation from there on her background, the plane, the full circumstances etc.

Plane Crash Benalla Wonder what her plans are..maybe she will sell it to somoene here who can fix and restore her. Have an idea re info on the plane crash..will go back to the local paper where I read about it the next day..should be able to access past editions in local library or at the Chronicle itself..the owner would be happy to help..that might give a starting point perhaps with name, date etc.

Thanks Robbo..will follow up on it too...thought Grace McGuire might have been the one but the article says 2005..a couple of years after the crash..the mystery deepens! LOL Catch you tomorrow..

Thanks for the pic mate....sad its just sitting there..hope she or someone else is able to get it going again one day.

Wondering whether the pilot in the Benalla crash was Grace McGuire..American Aviatrix? Tried googling but didn't come up with much on her. Yes thanks for the pic if you can find it..

Thanks for checking Robbo..would like to hear more on the Piper Chieftain one at some stage too..glad it had a happy ending...and see if I can spot the plane next time I'm in Albury. Will send a pic of the vintage plane if I find it. It seemed to have a longish front section and the pilot was seated well back from the nose.

Sounds interesting Robbo..would like to hear more on that one..and maybe have a look at the plane next time I'm up there. But this was a really old plane 1930's..and she seemed to be wearing the old headgear and goggles and maybe even a scarf (though not sure on the latter)..checked a few pics of old planes..and she was definitely killed...only a couple of kms from safety at Benalla unfortunately. Saw some pics of old planes when I was searching a while back ...might see if I can re-find the one that was closest to her plane if I can.

Thanks for checking Robbo..yes one of those happened quite near here where I live.Very bad weather conditons that day in July. The Mt. Buffalo /Benalla one is hard to find. Apparently the aviatrix was well known for flying vinatge aircraft and she did get awfully close to Benalla but not quite. Think she was doing some round the world trip or similar in her vintage plane. The revving motor..almost seemed as if it was cutting out then revving up again..thought at the time that it had something to do with her getting enough height to clear the mountain (which she did..but not by much as I could see her head/face clearly). Thought later it could have been a low fuel issue..like how my ride on revs just prior to running out of fuel. Any thoughts on that ? Wondwering how far she could glide with no fuel between the top of Mt Buffalo and Benalla. Are there any strategies pilots can use to get as much glide out of their aircraft as they can when out of fuel? :?:

Wondering if anyone can help with information on this. I was attending a music festival at Mt Buffalo on the Sunday. I am sure it was either the Australia Day weekend or weekend after..and fairly sure it was 2002 (perhaps one year either side at most). A plane flew very low over the top of Mt Buffalo and the engine seemed to be revving. Could clearly see the pilot (a quite famous American female pilot/aviatrix) as the plane was so low..it flew in a direct line toward Benalla airport but crashed a few kilometers short. The plane was definitely an old plane from the 1930's or thereabouts. Can anyone recall this and can provide me with a bit more information on the pilot, the plane and the cause of the crash? It was one of those situations where I felt something was wrong as the plane flew overhead..but only found out about the crash the next day in the newspapers. Gratefully. Tim :)