On 31 January 1945 a Stinson Model A aircraft departed from Melbourne for a flight of 127 nautical miles (235 km) to Kerang, Victoria—the first leg of an Australian National Airways regular scheduled service to Broken Hill, New South Wales.

The accident and related matters were investigated by a Supreme Court judge who also found that the aircraft's left wing failed in flight due to a fatigue crack.

On 31 January 1945 the Tokana departed from Melbourne's Essendon Airport at 7:55 am local time for a flight to Broken Hill, stopping at Kerang and Mildura.

About 20 minutes after takeoff the aircraft was approaching Redesdale and several people observed it flying about 1,000 ft (300 m) above ground level, just below the cloud base.

[1][2] Part of the left wing, outboard of the engine nacelle, continued to drift down slowly and reached the ground about ¾ mile (1.2 km) from the main wreckage.

[1] The site of the crash was once part of "Spring Plains" Station which had been owned by John Robertson Duigan and was where he constructed and flew the first aeroplane in Australia.

[3] The outer section of the left wing, outboard of the engine nacelle, was found about ¾ mile (1.2 km) from the main wreckage.

[2][7] By October 1943 VH-UYY had been converted to twin-engine configuration in the Essendon Airport facilities of Australian National Airways which had taken over Airlines of Australia.

[3] The fracture surfaces on the outer part of the left wing were examined by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research at its Division of Aeronautics in Melbourne.

These examinations determined that separation of the left wing was initiated by metal fatigue of the lower main spar boom attachment socket.

This suggested the gusting winds prevailing at the time, and the turbulence associated with the low altitude at which the aircraft was flying, were partly responsible for the failure.

[9][10][11] The matching socket in the spar in the right wing was also examined and found to be affected by a similar fatigue crack in the interior of the weld metal.

"In the type of construction embodied in these aircraft, where concentrated loads are carried by a small number of heavy members, a single fatigue failure can, and in fact has caused, a complete structural collapse.

"[9]The Investigation Panel's report was completed in two weeks[Note 5] and included five recommendations: The Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Arthur Drakeford, made a detailed statement to Parliament that an undetected fatigue crack in a welded joint in a boom attachment fitting in the left wing caused the crash.

[10][11] Following this criticism in the Parliament House of Representatives the Minister for Civil Aviation, Arthur Drakeford, appointed Mr Justice Philp of the Supreme Court of Queensland to conduct an inquiry into the accident using the powers of the National Security Act.

[18] The Inquiry also heard that the maximum weights of all civil aircraft registered in Australia were determined conservatively and in a manner that was consistent with the International Convention on Aerial Navigation.

[12][17][20] Mr Justice Philp's report contained five recommendations: The sole remaining Stinson Model A in Australia, VH-UKK Binana, had its certificate of airworthiness suspended and it did not fly again.

[8] The accident drew public attention to the potential for metal fatigue to cause sudden failure of the structure of a modern civil aircraft.

The Department of Civil Aviation began a practice of calculating the safe retirement life of metal aircraft registered in Australia.