Kookaburra (aircraft)

Kookaburra was a Westland Widgeon light aircraft registered G-AUKA.

When Sir Charles Kingsford Smith disappeared during the "Coffee Royal Incident", Pilot Keith Anderson and mechanic Bob Hitchcock flew in Kookaburra to search for Kingsford Smith. They departed Richmond NSW and headed for the North of WA via Broken Hill, Maree, Oodnadatta and Alice Springs.

Kookaburra was forced to land in the Tanami desert on 10 April 1929 when the push rod on a valve on number two cylinder loosened causing a loss of power. Hitchcock adjusted the push rod and they attempted to clear a runway but were overcome by thirst before they could clear a long enough runway to take off and perished in situ. They were found on 21 April 1929.

A ground party traveled from Wave Hill station and buried the men where they lay. Due to a lack of water the ground party did not have time to clear a runway and fly the aircraft out. After a public outcry for leaving the men in the desert a second expedition with a Thornycroft truck returned to the site, exhumed the bodies to be buried in Sydney and Perth. Again due to lack of water a runway could not be cleared so the aircraft was left.

The aircraft was forgotten as it was not economical to recover it. It was damaged by weather and fires and was accidentally discovered by Vern O'Brien a surveyor traveling through the area in 1961. He did not have an accurate location for the aircraft as the Tanami is flat and featureless. Several expeditions searched for Kookaburra after 1961 to no avail. Dick Smith mounted an unsuccessful expedition in 1977 and searched again in 1978 when he found Kookaburra.^[1][2]

The remains of Kookaburra were moved to Alice Springs airport to a public display.

One of Bob Hitchcocks sons, Robert Hitchcock, later joined the RAAF as a pilot and was the pilot of the Hudson aircraft in the Canberra Air Disaster on 13 Aug 1940.

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