1934 accident

In August 1934 Norman joined Qantas and moved with his wife and two small sons to Longreach in Queensland, the Qantas headquarters at the time. By now he was an experienced pilot, with some 2500 hours flying time.

At 0540 on the morning of 3 October 1934, Norman took off from Longreach in the DH.50 Atalanta on a routine mail service, with Winton, about 120 miles to the north west, the first scheduled stop. He was accompanied by two passengers, Mr H Henrickson and Mr W McKnoe. Having dropped mail as planned at the property 'Moscow', and having been seen by various people along the route flying at about 1000 feet, Atalanta then vanished. When it did not arrive as scheduled at Winton, a search was initiated. The following morning, 4 October, following reports from isolated homesteads that black smoke had been sighted early the previous day, the burnt-out wreckage of the aircraft was spotted from the air near the boundary of Vindex Station, about 20 miles south of Winton. It was immediately apparent to the searchers that all three on board had been killed.

The cause of the accident was never established. Investigations determined that the aircraft had crashed heavily into the ground at an angle of about 45 degrees. It had not been attempting to land at the time, and no mechanical defect could be found. Rising dust had made visibility that day poor in places, and Atalanta had been seen flying lower than usual during the trip. There was also speculation, not substantiated, that the aircraft could have caught fire in the air. And there were suggestions that Norman had recently suffered from influenza and might not have been fully fit, or was suffering from lack of sleep. However, various eyewitness reports indicated he was fit, well and his usual self on departure that morning.

In 2005 the evidence was re-reviewed by Macarthur Job, an experienced air accident investigator and author of a number of books on the subject. He concluded also that the particular circumstances of the accident were 'hard to explain' and that something 'dramatic' must have happened to cause it.