West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 13 January 1951, page 1


INQUIRY ON AMANA Perth Sitting Next Month MELBOURNE, Jan. 12: The Amana air crash court of in-quiry would open in Perth, probably on February 6, the Minister for Civil Aviation (Mr. White) said today. Mr. Justice W. B. Simpson, of the Canberra Supreme Court, will preside. Assessors appointed to advise him are Mr. D. B. Hudson, a Qantas Empire Airways aeronau-tical engineer and Capt. J. W. Bennett, a British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines pilot. The Amana crashed near York on June 26 with the loss of 29 lives. Mr. Justice Simpson presided at the Quirindi air disaster inquiry in 1948. He also investigated crashes at Hobart and Lae, New Guinea. The illness of Mr. Jus-

tice Wolff, of Perth, who had been appointed to head the in-quiry delayed the opening of the court and late last month the Attorney-General's Department was asked to provide another judge. Civil Aviation Department in-vestigators finished their prelimin-ary inquiry in October.