The original newspaper article is of such poor resolution I don't think it worth posting. But it concerns the loss of BOAC G-AGLX which was lost without trace on a flight between Sri Lanka and the Cocos Islands on the 23 Mar 1946. As you can see it was crewed by QANTAS. My earlier about flights to Tokyo were not general airline flights, but on behalf of the RAAF supporting our occupation forces.
The Geraldton Guardian and Express 27 Mar 1946
Missing Air Liner
MISSING AIR LINE EXTENSIVE SEARCH
NO SIGNS REPORTED
VAST AREA OF OCEAN SCANNED
Perth. March 27
While the search for the missing Qantas Lancastrian and its ten occupants is proceeding in the sector north-west of Cocos Island — where the plane was last reported— the search on Australia-Cocos section -- of the route has
been intensified by the addition of another civil aircraft. Fifteen planes operating from Ceylon, Cocos, Learmonth, Darwin and Java are covering a huge area of the Indian Ocean in an effort to locate either the plane or its
dinghies. No further radio signal has been picked up and the effort to locate the source of those heard faintly on Sunday night has not been successful.
Planes searching the ocean, along ihe known route and on the route planned, yesterday spent a fruitless day. Coast watchers and those on the sea had nothing to report and there were no further unexplained radio signals to provide a clue to the whereabouts of the G-AGLX or its survivors. Nevertheless, the search is being pressed with additional searchers concentrating on the Cocos Learmonth section of the route, since Capt. Frank Thomas, commander of the G-AGLX, made his pre-flight plan with Leurmonth as his alternative land fall should he have to by-pass Cocos Island for any reason. The occurence which shut down his radio between 6 p.m. and 6.3O p.m. on Saturday night might also have caused him to exclude Cocos and choose Learmonth as his objective.
This morning at 6 o'clock the Mac-Robertson-Miller Aviation Company Ltd. at the request of Qantas, dispatched a DH-86 aircraft under the command of Capt. J. Woods to Learmonth. From that point Capt. Woods will examine the coast and areas of the ocean for signs of the missing plane or its personnel. Qantas as has delayed movement of its aircraft on the Australia-England service so that they will traverse the search area in daylight. Altogether there are now fifteen air craft, including three R.A.A.F. planes, two Catalinas and a Liberator occupied in scouring the ocean and adjacent coasts.
Three of the five passengers on the missing Lancastrian are Sydney business men. All five members of the crew are from New South Wales and four of them have Sydney suburban addresses