Historical information

The Kyeema airline crash took place on 25 October 1938 when the Australian National Airways Douglas DC-2 Kyeema, tail number VH-UYC, flying from Adelaide to Melbourne, commenced final approach to Essendon Airport through heavy fog and crashed into the western slopes of Mount Dandenong, killing all 18 on board instantly.
There is strong evidence that the pilots were becoming unsure of their position. According to Macarthur Job's book, Disaster in the Dandenongs, the radio operator had requested the controller at Essendon give them a radio bearing. Essendon had acknowledged and told them to leave their transmitter on, but the signal stopped and no further contact was made. It is thought that this is the moment that Kyeema hit the mountain.
There were 18 people on board the DC-2: 14 passengers, the captain, the first officer, an air hostess, and a cadet pilot who operated the radio during the flight.

The victims were :—

THE CREW. CAPTAIN A. C. D. WEBB, 32, pilot, married, of Essendon, Victoria.
JUNIOR CAPTAIN ALAN J. STEEN, 25, pilot, married, of Essendon North, Victoria.
ELVA JONES, 27, air hostess, single, of Toorak, Victoria.
PHILIP D. PRING, about 20, cadet pilot attached to Australian National Airways' Aeronautics School, Sydney.

PASSENGERS.

CHARLES ALLAN SEYMOUR HAWKER, M.P., 44, single, of Adelaide.

LEONARD SYDNEY ABRAHAMS, K.C., 51, married, barrister, of Sydney.

SIDNEY HILL SMITH, 41, married, managing director of S. Smith and Son, of Yalumba, South Australia.

ALFRED CECIL GAIN, 42, married, barrister, of Sydney.

GORDON H. GODDARD, 30, single, accountant, of North Sydney.

LANCELOT WILLIAM SHIRLEY, 27, single, solicitor, of Manly.

JAMES IAN MASSIE, 25, single, solicitor, of Sydney.

VAUGHAN PATE, 42, refrigeration cabinet manufacturer, married, of Unley, South Australia.

THOMAS M. HARDY, 48, married, head of the firm of Thomas Hardy and Sons, vignerons, of Seacliff, South Australia.

GEORGE WILLIAM LING, 72, of Kingswood, South Australia, former building inspector of the Municipal Tramways Trust, Adelaide.

LOUIS HUGO GRAMP, 43, married, managing director of G. Gramp and Sons, Ltd., vignerons, Rowlands (sic) Flat, South Australia.

Mrs. ELIZABETH MARY SCHRADER, 69, widow, of Adelaide.

Mr. and Mrs. HANS L. GLOE, of Perth.

Physical description

Small section of the Kyeema DC-2 fuselage made up of 5 pieces of piece of twisted and torn aluminium riveted together. Marking can be seen in red but is indistinct. Aluminium has gold, silver and green colouring.