1945 Milne Bay air accident

The 1945 Milne Bay air accident occurred on 11 September 1945, when a Royal Australian Air Force Douglas C-47A-30-DK Dakota transport aircraft crashed into Milne Bay in the Territory of Papua (now part of Papua New Guinea). On the flight were 19 passengers and three crew members, all of whom were killed in the accident.

The aircraft departed Alotau at 10:15, and a few minutes after that a tropical downpour began. At 10:21 the pilot requested a position fix in order to return to Alotau, but nothing more was heard from the aircraft after that. The aircraft was believed to have crashed into the sea, and boats and aircraft were sent to search for it. The only traces of the aircraft were found only the following day, when a village chief travelling by canoe noticed two life jackets, cushions and oil floating on the surface of the bay. No other remains of the aircraft were found, although dynamite was detonated on the bottom of the bay at the site of the find so that wreckage would rise to the surface.

Among the passengers on the flight were the entire four-man crew of a Bristol Beaufort bomber and a Royal Australian Air Force entertainment group, among them a violinist, a cellist and a pianist. Also on the flight was an official of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit carrying 2,000 pounds in cash (half a million dollars in today's money), which was intended to pay the wages of native labourers. A memorial to the aircraft's crew has been erected at Bomana Cemetery in Port Moresby.

At the end of 2011 a wreck was found in the south-west corner of the bay that is suspected to be the 1945 accident aircraft. The aircraft has not, however, been identified with certainty.