The ''Southern Cloud'', registered VH-UMF, was one of five
Avro 618 Ten three-engined aircraft flying daily airline services between Australian cities for
Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.
The Holyman's Airways period
On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...
in the early 1930s.
Disappearance
On 21 March 1931, the ''Southern Cloud'' departed at 8:10 AM from Sydney for
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
. On board were six passengers and two crew, including pilot Travis "Shorty" Shortridge and assistant pilot C.L. Dunnell.
[ABC Television – 7:30 Report 30 October 2008](_blank)
/ref> Weather conditions en route were hazardous and much worse than predicted. The aircraft never reached its destination and disappeared.
The search for the missing aircraft lasted 18 days and involved over 20 aircraft. No trace of the missing aircraft was found. Airline co-owner Charles Kingsford Smith
Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand.
Kingsford Smith was ...
joined the search and "may have flown over the crash site, but with the aircraft having burned it would be very difficult to distinguish from the air and so the discovery wasn't made."
It was Australia's first major airline disaster. Australian National Airways folded later that year as a result of both this and another loss. A film inspired by the accident, '' The Secret of the Skies'', was released in 1934.
Passengers
Six passengers departed Sydney in the Southern Cloud on 21 March 1931:
* Mr W. O'Reilly, 229 Castlereagh Street, Sydney.
* Miss C. Stokes, O'Sullivan Road, Rose Bay,
* Mr. Clyde Hood, Onslow Gardens, Greenknowe Avenue, Darlinghurst. A producer for Union Theatres flying to Melbourne to join his wife (stage name Miss Bertha Riccardo).
* Mr H. O'Farrell, 50 Gardenvale Road, Caulfield, Victoria.
* Mr. Margules, of Margules and Hickman, Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, who flew from Brisbane the week prior.
* Miss E. Glasgow, who had booked her travel with Thomas Cook and Sons.
Investigation and 1958 rediscovery
The ''Southern Cloud''s fate remained a mystery for 27 years until 26 October 1958. On that day, Tom Sonter, a worker on the Snowy Mountains Scheme
The Snowy Mountains Scheme, also known as the Snowy Hydro or the Snowy scheme, is a hydroelectricity and irrigation in Australia, irrigation complex in south-east Australia. Near the border of New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...
, made a chance discovery of the wreck. The crash site was in heavily timbered mountainous terrain within the Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...
about east of the direct Sydney–Melbourne route. Investigations concluded that the severe weather conditions at the time of the flight most likely contributed to the crash.
A man named Stan Baker had been booked to fly on the fateful journey, but cancelled and travelled by train instead. As a result of the aircraft's disappearance, he harboured a lifelong fear of flying
Fear of flying is the fear of being on an aircraft, such as an airplane or helicopter, while it is in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromerhanophobia (although aero ...
– which was proved justifiable when he was killed in the 1950 Australian National Airways Douglas DC-4 crash
On 26 June 1950, a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster aircraft departed from Perth, Western Australia, for an eight-hour flight to Adelaide, South Australia. It crashed 22 minutes after take-off, east of Perth Airport. All 29 occupants were killed in the ...
.
In Don Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...
's book ''Farewell to Cricket'' he mentions that he flew in ''Southern Cloud'' with pilot Shortridge from Adelaide to Melbourne, then to Goulburn not long before the tragedy. He described the trip as a 'bumpy journey'.
After the discovery of the wreckage, a large memorial incorporating salvaged parts from the plane was erected in the nearby town of Cooma
Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina.
...
. The crash site is north west from Deep Creek Dam; there is a small stream adjacent to the crash site named Shortridge Creek which is a tributary of Deep Creek a short way downstream of the dam. It is unclear when the pilot's name was assigned to the stream or by whom.
See also
*List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-1950
* List of solved missing person cases: 1950–1999
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder ...
References and notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avro Ten Southern Cloud disappearance 1931
1931 disasters in Australia
1930s in New South Wales
1930s missing person cases
1931 in Australia
Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain
Australian National Airways (1930) accidents and incidents
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1931
Aviation accidents and incidents in New South Wales
March 1931
Missing aircraft
Missing person cases in Australia