on 31 january 1945, a heavily modified stinson model a registered "vh-uyy" and named "tokana", operated by australian national airways, departed from essendon airport for the daily flight to kerang. on board were eight passengers and two pilots. about twenty minutes later the aircraft broke up in mid-air, killing all on board. the aircraft had suffered fatigue failure of its left wing. the accident investigators believed this was the first crash of an aircraft due to metal fatigue.