The pilots were ex Squadron Leader "Titus" Oates DFC and ex Flight Lieutenant Douglas Swain DFC. Doug Swain acted as navigator. I talked to Doug Swain a few months after the accident and he mentioned that there had been some friction between the two of them over where to prang the aircraft once it was obvious they were lost in bad visibility due weather.
Some years earlier Doug Swain had been flight superintendant of the Sydney Morning Herald Flying Services at Camden NSW, Australia where he flew a DC3 and Hudsons on newspaper delivery services to Northern NSW. At the time I was a general hand age around 17 and flew on the newspaper flights for about 160 flying hours. My job was to help push out the papers, and make some horribly tasting Chicory coffee. In turn, the pilots including Doug would let me pole the aircraft from the RH seat.
Doug Swain was one of nature's gentlemen. Some time after the ill fated Mosquito flight, he talked the management of the Sydney Morning Herald into restarting the SMH Flying Services using a Lockheed Hudson. Previously around 1950, the SMH Flying Services had been disbanded after several fatal accidents. The Manager was a well known Australian pioneer airman Harry Purvis.
Unfortunately, in his keeness to ensure the first proving flight of the revamped Flying Services got through OK, Doug Swain flew too low in trying to fly VMC in low cloud between the hills of the Barrington Tops near Dungog, NSW. He crashed and all three crew members perished. The aircraft was not found until several months later.
Titus Oates died several years ago.
I have a media photo of Oates and Swain with their Mosquito in the background. Will locate it and post it on this thread if I can work out how to do it!