VH-IVI ex RAAF serial No. A68-119 a CAC built Mk 21 aircraft photographed at camden airshow N.S.W. Australia October 1971. Owned and operated by R.J Whitbread from 1970 the aircraft was used for business and pleasure.Unfortunately on the 11/6/73 whilst flying over windsor N.S.W. the aircraft crashed killing Mr Whitbread and totally destroying the aircraft.

I knew RJ personally ...he had a smash repair shop at one end of the long Heathcote Road....and my brother and I had a smash shop at the other end..our two company tow trucks... were always arriving at the same car crashes..and we both flew from Bankstown..RJ's mustang was a simply beautiful restoration...sad to to see him go like that..I think he said he spent $70,000 to restore it..in about 1970ish...when you could buy a house for $15,000

I found this online....
.....I sold A68-119 to a Sydney businessman, Ray Whitbread. He flew her to Bankstown (Sydney) on 1 September 1970 where she was extensively overhauled and repainted. On 11 June 1973 he was
killed in her in a crash near Windsor NSW when, according to the Aviation Safety Network of the Flight Safety Foundation,2
the canopy detached and struck him in the head. My recollection is
different. I believe Ray was practising aerobatics for an air show at 8,000 feet doing vertical eight point upward rolls until the aircraft stalls. At that point the control surfaces must be centred or the
aircraft will fall inverted, which requires 17,000 feet to recover from. Ray had undone his seat belts and jettisoned the canopy to bale out but did not have time. The canopy was the largest piece to
survive the accident and is still in existence.
Langdon Badger
Mike Milln
July 2016

Heres a more complete story and many more pictures of RJ's plane
....Black

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austcl/VH-IVI.html

further site with more info and more nice pics of RJ's plane
....black

https://jimsaerophotos.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/mustang-vh-ivi/

and more...
RJ was well known and quite famous..

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51registry/ca18-a68119.html

On the day of the accident I was on the side of the road watching the Mustang doing aerobatics, I was very close as I watched it dive vertically into the ground. I was the first on the seine and I remember that the crash site was an almost circular disruption of the soil as if it had been ploughed , there was no sign of the aircraft at all it was all underground the only part was the canopy some distance away. To this day it still haunts me.

I was a Police Officer at Windsor on that day. I was watching the aerobatics of this plane from the front steps of the PS, my boss, the Sergeant on the shift was an Ex-RAAF officer and later joined the NSW Police. The plane was very noisy and we could hear it about 2.0 miles away. I heard it going into another dive, then silence. I said to the Sgt, I can't hear the plane and as soon as I said it, the phone rang and informed me of the situation. We drove to the location and arrived about 6-7 mins after the accident. At the scene was a large hole with small bits of metal scattered around the inside of the crater. My boss told me to go into the hole and try and find fuel tanks intact, which was negative. I did find human remains which I will not describe on here. We stayed at the site till the Aviation authorities arrived and we returned to the PS.

I was a 10 year old on the day. I was with my family in Windsor about to head into a Chinese restaurant for lunch. We stood out the front for a moment watching this aircraft high in the sky. After a while when we were seated inside we heard an almighty loud scream of an engine revving, then silence. Not knowing what the noise was we carried on only to find out that night back home on the news, the plane had crashed.

I was the Duty Air Movements Officer at Richmond that day, and my Sergeant and I went out with the RAAF Fire Truck to the incident. We couldn't get too close because of the proximity of the incident to the chemical works.

It was the worst thing that I ever saw.

We lived on Ham Street South Windsor where Bligh Park Tavern is now days just down the Road from where the Mustang smashed, we were at Richmond the day of this accident, the next day my brother and I (8 and 9 year old) went up the road and inspected the crash site and found fragments of the Aircraft, we were told it had disintegrated, it was about half a kilometre from our place.

Does anybody know the exact location.
My neighbour mentioned they buried it in the ground.
Was it where the new houses around kingsley close?

1] In response to the comment BLACK, posted on 12/07/2016, 17:34, I make the following comment:- Ray Whitbread had a Smash Repair and Towing Business which operated from 2 Phillips Road, Kogarah.[ Close to Rocky Point Road ] NOT on Heathcote Road!
2] In response to the comment BLACK, posted on 12/07/2016, 18:16, I make the following comment:- The statement that Ray had released the seat belt, is an assumption; The canopy was certainly jettisoned; There is perceived wisdom that a pilot needed to keep his head down when releasing the canopy, and count to seven [ seconds ] before sitting upright, to allow the canopy to clear the aircraft, BEFORE releasing the seat belt after which the Pilot would be sucked out of the cockpit. Theory was that Ray did not keep his head down for the seven seconds, which resulted in the released canopy to strike him , rendering him to a state of unconsciousness, whereafter Ray was still seated/ slumped in the cockpit when the plane hit the ground.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THAT FATEFUL AFTERNOON, is as follows:- While listening to the radio I became aware that a Mustang Aeroplane had crashed in Western Sydney on the Sunday afternoon of the June long weekend.
I called Rays workshop/ towing phone number and spoke to Dennis Perry, the person who answered the phone.
Dennis told me that he had been contacted by the police, who asked what car Ray had driven to Bankstown Aerodrome that day.
VERBATUM "I told them to tell me what keys were found on the body, as a way of definitely identifying Ray"s body" ,to which the policeman replied "'WE CANT FIND THE BODY'"
Later that same week I was informed that about nine pounds of human remains were recovered from the crash site; Those remains were in a 'Jellified State'; that the plane created a crater of eighteen feet in depth in the clay based soil at the impact site.
Personal Disclosure:- I am a former employee of R J Whitbread Pty LTD

My family home was approximately 1 mile from the place the mustang crashed. We were just finishing a Sunday family meal.
Living under the fligh parth of Richmond air base it was not unusual to hear aircraft flying over head.
On this day we could hear the mustang performing acrobatics. I had just taken my dinner plate to the kitchen sink was looking our the window facing south.
I could hear the Rolls Royce merlin engine screaming beyond its natural sound at full trottle in a power dive and saw a black flash of the mustang vertically hiiting The ground. My family home and the ground shook huge eruption.
I convinced my father that we should go to the crash site to assist.
Upon approaching the crash site in the famly car Richmond air base fire truck was
already on site .
As described by Frank Wood the mustang had struck the ground in walker st south windsor so hard nothing but a huge mound of clay soil was upheaved and small metal fragments were nearby that could be seen
The mustang had hit the ground under full power and what extra additional speed that was created. It was evident that The whole aircraft was below the surface of the ground
I would think the pilot would have black out and been unconscious before the aircraft hit the ground.
I will never forget what i had seen or heard that day . What i saw and herd it would have been impossible to eject .
The area was being secured to keep the
public away.
It was never publicly disclosed if the aircraft and engine was full recovered.
The area where the mustang hit the ground is heavy thick clay and river stones
RIP Ray Whitbread