registered in Australia were determined conservatively and in a manner that was consistent with the International Convention on Aerial Navigation. The increase in maximum weight of VH-UYY was only granted after all appropriate calculations had been performed to ensure the aircraft was safe at the increased weight. Mr Justice Philp presented the Court's report to the Governor-General on 10 April 1945. The Court found that the accident was caused by a fatigue crack in the lower boom of the main spar in the left wing. It found that the presence of a crack in the elevator hinge bracket could not be determined but even if a crack had been present it had not contributed to the cause of the accident. It also found that the change of engines was not part of the cause of the accident but the increase in maximum weight had caused the accident to occur a little earlier than would have happened otherwise. Mr Justice Philp's report contained five recommendations: Ground engineers and aircraft inspectors should receive instruction in the inspection of welding in aircraft structures. ANA should be given a licence to import a detector for examining welding used in aircraft structures. If this detector proved satisfactory, similar detectors should be installed at all major aerodromes. Investigations made to determine how to calculate a limit on the flying life of aircraft. Duplicates of all log books should be kept on the ground. Regulations regarding the constitution and powers of Air Courts of Inquiry should be reviewed. Aftermath The sole remaining Stinson Model A in Australia, VH-UKK Binana, had its certificate of airworthiness suspended and it did not fly again. 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. In December 1946 the University of Melbourne organised an international symposium titled The Failure of Metals by Fatigue, the first such symposium in an English-speaking country. Five of the thirty technical papers presented at the symposium dealt specifically with the problem of metal fatigue in aircraft. The Structures and Materials Division of the Division of Aeronautics laboratory at Fishermen's Bend, Melbourne began a long-term program aimed at advancing the knowledge of metal fatigue in aircraft structures. Surplus wings, manufactured by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation