Fifthleg
I now believe that the fire story is a total furphy.
The DC-3 VH-PWN now at the Aust Aviation Museum at Bankstown is actually VH-PWN #2. When VH-PWN #1 (the Bushies aeroplane) went to NZ as ZK-AMS, someone in their infinite wisdom allowed the registration to be reallocated to another DC-3. No doubt the seeds for this confusion were sown when the registration PWN was popularised in song.