Australian Naval History on 24 March 1965

During the Indonesian ‘Confrontation’ to detect Indonesian boats smuggling arms or infiltrating Malaysia Fairey Gannets flew night-time patrols along the Strait of Malacca from HMAS Melbourne. Returning after a night sortie A/SBLT(P) Hutchison touched down on HMAS Melbourne at 0431 in Fairey Gannet WN456. The aircraft caught an arrestor wire, but the arrestor-hook broke allowing the aircraft to race unrestrained along the flight deck. Despite heavy braking the aircraft crashed over the ship’s port side into the sea. Two of the crew were rescued but after a lengthy search A/SBLT(P) Hutchison was never found.