1980s DOUGLAS DC-3s   Part 1

A selection of my photographs of Australian DC-3s during the 1980s

              c/n 2029 VH-ABR was retired as a memorial at Ansett Airlines maintenance HQ at Melbourne Airport by April 1983.
              It had been delivered in October 1938 to Australian National Airways as VH-ABR Kanana
          

VH-ABR was restored to airworthy by Ansett employees later in the decade, seen at Richmond NSW in October 1988

c/n 6024 VH-AEQ in open storage at Chewing Gum Field Air Museum at Tallebudgera Qld in December 1983.
Plans to restore the aircraft did not eventuate and it moved to a car yard in Brisbane and then steadily downhill

c/n 6021 VH-AES was displayed above the car park at the TAA terminal at Melbourne Airport in December 1981

Just like Ansett's VH-ABR, TAA staff restored VH-AES to airworthy in 1940s scheme. Richmond NSW October 1988

The superby restored passenger cabin of VH-AES in flight in 1988


The sight seen by many thousands of DC-3 passengers over the years on approach to Sydney Airport.  VH-AES October 1988 


c/n 1944 VH-ANR in September 1984 at Camden Airport NSW, where it was retired 10 years earlier.
Built in 1937 for KLM, this DC-3 has a rich airline and wartime history. Happily it was saved by Queensland Air Museum

            c/n 13084 VH-BAA at Warbirds Aviation Museum, Mildura Vic in May 1983, after it was retired at Essendon by BBA Cargo
formerly Brain & Brown Airfreighters.  This DC-3 is now at the Central Australian Air Museum at Alice Springs
where it has been given a major restoration and painted to represent Connair's VH-EWE

c/n 25495 VH-BAB at Essendon in July 1979 still in service with BBA Cargo

VH-BAB in December 1983 at Chewing Gum Field Air Museum, Tallebudgera Qld repainted as USAAF 349234
(its correct USAAF identity) in New Guinea theatre markings

c/n 12187 "VH-BPA" was unveiled at the new Cairns Airport terminal building in 1983 as a memorial to Bush Pilots Airways
which had been reformed as Air Queensland. It was later repainted in Bush Pilots scheme as VH-BPA. This DC-3 had been
Air Niugini's P2-ANO, sold as N5590C, before acquired by BPA and ferried from Port Moresby to Cairns in October 1981

During the 1980s Cairns was a busy DC-3 port with Air Queensland's former Bush Pilots Airways DC-3s flying scheduled
passenger services as well as essential freight when inland roads are impassable during the tropical wet season.
This shows the Air Queensland maintenance ramp at Cairns in March 1984

     c/n 12873 VH-BPL ready to load passengers at the relaxed Air Queensland terminal at Cairns Airport in March 1984

           Another view of VH-BPL at Cairns during March 1984

                 c/n 32945 VH-BPN was a long way from home in October 1983, at Melbourne Airport while operating a tourist charter

            c/n 13506 VH-CAN on a foggy morning at Essendon in July 1979, now owned by Paradak Pty Ltd but retaining its former
            Department of Civil Aviation paint scheme.  Trendy name Can-o-Bus is painted under the cockpit

Essendon May 1981, VH-CAN was now repainted in this striking scheme and kept busy on parachuting work

              VH-CAN in April 1987 now owned by Air North at Darwin. It is seen at Perth while on a freight charter carrying mining
                    equipment from Perth to the Telfer gold mine in northern WA

            c/n 6051 VH-DAS.  Sunk on the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns during the making of the movie Sky Pirates, it was salvaged
                                and brought by barge to Cairns where its remains are seen at Tonkins Scrap Metal in March 1984.
                                      From there it was moved to a rainforest market at nearby Kuranda as a tourist attraction
                                                  c/n 12874 VH-EDC with Air Queensland at Cairns in March 1984

            c/n 25367 VH-EDD ended its flying days with Bush Pilots Airways at Cairns but was retired in 1977 due corrosion and moved
            to the Cairns Airport fire practice ground. The cockpit section was at the Pacific International Hotel on Cairns Esplanade by
             March 1984, but plans for it to be mounted high on a wall of their disco as the DJ's booth were thankfully never carried out

           c/n 6007 VH-EWE in foggy light at Essendon July 1979 in freight service with International Parcel Express Company

                Essendon May 1981, by now VH-EWE had been repainted in Setair's scheme but on-sold to General Cargo Australia.
                                     It was retired at Essendon the following year and sold to McDonalds restaurant chain


            This is VH-EWE at the Westlakes McDonalds hamburger restaurant in Adelaide by 1987. It was fitted with rows of tables
                 for diners and childrens birthday parties. The TAA scheme is authentic as is its original TAA registration VH-AER.  

Continues at 1980s DC-3s PART TWO


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