An entry from our Summer Reading competition.

I HAD a real good friend, Johnny Engler who lived in Westbury Crescent, Bicton. 

One day in 1950 it was announced at assembly at Fremantle Boys School that Johnny was to be given two weeks off school to go with his father on a plane trip to the eastern states. 

We all sat on the jarrah floor of the school hall and listened to Mr Stewart the headmaster. 

“This is a great opportunity for Johnny to see a big city and ride home on a new bus across the Nullarbor desert,” Mr Stewart said. Johnny’s father Douglas was the manager of the Pioneer Bus Company. 

The company had ordered a brand new bus to be picked up in Melbourne and driven back to WA by a company mechanic. 

• The Douglas DC4 Skymaster, nicknamed the Amana, was an all Australian National Airlines plane.

Johnny and his dad would be passengers. 

The plane to take Johnny and his dad to Melbourne was a Douglas DC4 Skymaster named the Amana – all Australian National Airlines (ANA) planes were given a name ending in ana.

The Amana took off from South Guildford Airport at 9.55pm on June 26, 1950 under Captain RJC Chappell on route to Adelaide. 

Just 20 minutes later it was a burning, tangled wreck in thick bush about 20km from York just east of Perth.

One man, Edgar Forwood from Adelaide, briefly survived the crash. 

He died six days later taking the death tally to 29. 

We heard that condensation in the fuel tanks of the plane was believed to be the cause of the crash. 

Johnny’s house with its round leadlight window in the front with a camel and sand hills design is still there in Westbury Crescent. A light in the lounge room illuminates the design at night.

by GORDON LEE