AUSTRALIAN VINTAGE & VETERAN AIRCRAFT - 1960s - 2

Commencing with Ahhhh, De Havilland...


Airworthy DH.60G Gipsy Moth VH-UAE rolled out from its shed on the owner's farm Stanley Park, Garema NSW in July 1967.
This was the very first Moth imported back in November 1925 as a DH.60 with Cirrus engine. It survived many accidents and
engine changes and was impressed by RAAF as A7-88 for wartime training.



DH.60G VH-ULJ was a former Guinea Airways with long service in New Guinea, before retired as an instructional airframe at
the SA School of Mines in Adelaide, along with DH.60M VH-ULO. Both were moved to the Birdwood Mill folk museum in the
Adelaide hills, where they are pictured in December 1966.  Both Moths are now with the SA Aviation Museum at Port Adelaide.



"There's an old plane in a backyard chicken shed in Thomastown". It was DH.80A Puss Moth VH-ABU, emerging into daylight
as the rough covering was dismantled in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown in November 1965.  The aircraft had been acquired
by Adelaide vintage enthusiast Bob Burnett-Read, and the West Beach Aviation Group volunteered to move it to Adelaide.



Puss Moth VH-ABU near Nhill Vic on the road to Adelaide in November 1965, towed behind my Ford Zephyr. Brenton Holt is
in foreground, Arthur Perkins behind checking the ropes on the borrowed glider trailer. The weight of the airframe with engine
proved too heavy for the trailer which suffered a structural collapse closer to Adelaide.  This Puss Moth had been imported in
1930 by Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service (QANTAS) as VH-UPA, for their services in outback Queensland.



DH.82A Tiger Moth VH-SSK in a typical Australian scene on the owner's rural property at Dookie, near Shepparton, Victoria
in May 1967. A former Super Spread Aviation cropsprayer, this Tiger had been rebuilt as a two seater, but retained the overturn
truss, a pilot safety measure mandated for Australian agricultural DH.82s.



Former Royal Flying Doctor Service DH.83 Fox Moth VH-USJ was found on a farm near Cunderdin WA in January 1969.
It had several WA owners after being retired by the RFDS and had been retired in damaged condition at Cunderdin Airport



The farm shed behind held over a dozen dismantled cropdusting Tiger Moths, cleared from a hangar at Cunderdin Airport after
resident agricultural firm Bob Couper Co ceased operations. The DH.83 was removed with the Tigers. This DH.82 has the tail
of VH-WFQ but is in fact VH-AMP and was being patched up prior to going on display at a Cunderdin folk museum.  Good
news is that the whole collection has been saved, most of the Tigers now rebuilt, and the Fox Moth is flying again in Perth.



DH.84 Dragon VH-SNB at Orange NSW for an airshow in February 1966. It was owned Reverend Les Nixon who flew an
evangelistic religious group all over Australia giving musical performances at country towns and aboriginal missions, while
spreading their word. This DH.84 was formerly RAAF A34-13, the very first of 87 Dragons built at Sydney, first flown on
29 September 1942.  Today it resides at the Royal Scottish Museum of Flight at the wartime East Fortune airfield, Scotland.



Another Australian-built Dragon VH-AML at Busselton WA in May 1968. Pilot Neville Hyder fires up the Gipsy Majors prior
to taking us for a local flight. This Dragon was built in Sydney as RAAF A34-92 and first flew at Mascot on 1 May 1943.



DH.85 Leopard Moth VH-UUL at Parafield in March 1964, at the end of the three-day Ansett Air  Race from Brisbane.


 
DH.87B Hornet Moth VH-UYO Christopher Robin taxies in at Parafield at the finish line of the Ansett Air Race from Brisbane
in March 1964. Tragically, three months later it was destroyed in a fatal accident near Ballarat Victoria.



DH.89 Rapide 3 VH-ECW at Parafield in March 1966, on completion of an extended overhaul. The austere white and grey
paintwork fitted its new role in outback Queensland, dropping dingo baits and spreading grass seed on cleared scrub land. Built
as RAF Dominie 1 X7370, it became G-AJXB, SE-CBU and flew from Sweden to Australia by migrating pilot Peter Ahrens.



DH.94 Moth Minor VH-AFQ at Cootamundra NSW in February 1966. One of 40 Moth Minors assembled at Mascot NSW by
de Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd in 1940, using incomplete airframes from the Hatfield production line, and locally made parts.
This was laid down as G-AFUV, shipped partially constructed to Sydney, delivered to RAAF as A21-30 in March 1940.
Two years after this picture it was sold to Canada in 1968 and allocated CF-AOO, before moving to Alabama as N16731.



DH.94 Moth Minor VH-AIB Miss Canary featured a bright yellow and black paint scheme when seen in February 1965 at
Ballarat, Victoria. This DH.94 was originally RAAF A21-38, and is still flying, painted in silver RAAF markings as A21-38.



DHA-3 Drover Mk.3B VH-FDC John Flynn in October 1967 at the Royal Flying Doctor Service base at Broken Hill NSW
where it was based for fifteen years.  The Mk.3B was the ultimate development of this Australian tri-motor, Gipsy major engines
replaced by three 180hp Lycomings and tailplane modifed to improve flight stability. Painted green and white with red cross.



Chrislea CH-3 Super Ace VH-BAE at Cowra NSW in July 1967 looking very smart. The early post-war Chrislea production
line at Exeter was not a commercial success, but five Chrisleas were sold to Australia.



Chrislea's tailwheel model was the CH-3 Series 4 Skyjeep. VH-RCD looks very weathered while retired in the open at Bankstown
in May 1963. Some years earlier it had been modified at Bankstown with raised rear fuselage and deeper cowling when re-engined
with a much more powerful DH Gipsy Six.  After a long rebuild, it flew again in September 1988 at Bathurst NSW, fitted with an
original Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 engine. Later sold to England, where it took up its original registration G-AKVR.



As kids on the fence at Parafield Airport, Adelaide in the 1960s, we were fortunate to have some of the last airworthy Percival
Proctors based on the field.  Here VH-GGB taxies out for departure behind the parked VH-SCC in February 1966. Both were
former RAF radio trainer Proctor Mk.3s, which escaped the 1963 DCA type grounding of the civil production Mk.5s.



Proctor Mk.1 VH-AVG had been retired at Wiawera Station near Olary SA in 1966 when deterioration was found in the wooden
wing glued joints. Here it is in October 1967 covered with a layer of red dust, rolled out for photographs. The homestead in the
background has the proeprty's name painted on the roof, to assist overflying pilots in this featureless countryside.



Miles Gemini VH-AKV parked out on the grass at Bankstown in May 1963, retired due to the DCA grounding order on Miles
Geminis and Messengers because of deterioration in their wood-glue construction. The Ansons behind had been retired by a
separate DCA grounding order on Australian Avro Anson Mk.1s effective June 1962. The Gemini was red and white.



Miles M.2F Hawk VH-ACC was seen at Nhill, Victoria in February 1965. The rear fuselage is resting on bales of hay while
repairs were carried out on the tailwheel.  The pre-war Miles Hawks and Falcons had different construction and were not included
in the grounding of the later Miles Geminis, Aries and Messengers. VH-ACC was sold to Canada in 1968 to become CF-AUV.



Supermarine Seagull Mk.V VH-ALB at Camden NSW in January 1967. Although the pale blue paintwork was getting tatty, the
big seaplane was still flying, in private use by a Sydney land developer.  Formerly RAAF A2-4, serving on board HMAS Sydney
and HMAS Perth, it was acquired from postwar disposals for a short-lived New Guinea enterprise Amphibious Airways, which
also used several ex RAAF Walrus.  VH-ALB can be seen today at the RAF Museum at Hendon, displayed as RAAF A2-4.

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