Timaru and Oamaru DC-3 service in 1966. NAC also provided Mount Cook with a 'guarantor' back up when the airline purchased its first Hawker Siddeley HS 748 airliner and later a de Havilland Twin Otter. In 1973 NAC took a minor shareholding in the Mount Cook Group, the parent company of Mount Cook Airlines; Air New Zealand would later absorb this share when merger amalgamated the airlines. Safe Air In September 1972, NAC acquired 100% ownership of freight company Safe Air Limited, formerly known as Straits Air Freight Express Limited (SAFE) established in 1951, with acquisition of Air Holdings Limited's 94% share holding. The airline operated Bristol Freighter and Armstrong Whitworth Argosy aircraft. It was to continue as a separate company based in Blenheim. Accidents and incidents NAC Freight Air crash NAC suffered its first fatal air crash on 9 August 1948 when DC-3 Freighter ZK-AOE Parera crashed above Port Underwood claiming the lives of Commanders Murdo MacLeod and RJRH "Dicky" Makgill. The DC-3 had taken off from Woodbourne Airport near Blenheim on a routine freight flight bound for Paraparaumu and entered cloud, crashing into Scraggy Ridge. A lack of radio navigation equipment was highlighted in the crash report. Some wreckage remains on the ridge. Electra crash On 23 October 1948, NAC Lockheed Model 10 Electra ZK-AGK Kaka crashed on the south-western slopes of Mt Ruapehu in the centre of New Zealand's North Island while flying in clouds. The aircraft was flying from Palmerston North to Hamilton, but drifted right off track after passing over Whanganui and collided with the mountain killing all thirteen people on board. The wreckage was located a week later near the summit. The accident highlighted the lack of air navigation radio beacons in New Zealand at the time. Lodestar crash On 18 March 1949, NAC Lockheed Lodestar ZK-AKX Keruru, crashed in the Tararua Ranges near Waikanae while approaching Paraparaumu Airport at the end of a flight from Auckland killing all 15 on board. The pilot was deemed to become disoriented in low cloud. Once again blame was given to a lack of navigational radio beacons in New Zealand. This crash was the worst aviation disaster in New Zealand until the Kaimai Range crash in 1963. The wreckage still remains at the crash site, with the exception of the tail section which was recovered intact in 1988 and taken to the Air Force Museum at Wigram