AUSTRALIAN
DE HAVILLAND DOVES & HERONS - 1970s |
NT Medical Service operated
a fleet of six DH.104 Doves through the 1970s until replaced by GAF Nomads. Based at Darwin and Alice Springs, the Doves operated medical clinic runs and emergency medivacs Dove 6 VH-DHE was at Hawker de Havilland's hangar at Bankstown, where NTMS major maintenance was carried out |
Dove 1 VH-DSM at Lismore
NSW in April 1978 while owned by Swiftair of Lismore. Formed as an agricultural operation by Cec Swift, the company also had several aircraft for charter work |
Dove 5 VH-CLD was ex G-BAHB, ferried from
England in June 1974 on delivery to Bassair, based at Moorabbin Vic. Seen there in December 1976, it operated to the Bass Strait islands and Tasmania |
Dove 6 VH-MJD was imported from Britain
ex G-APCZ in 1967. Seen at Adelaide with Chartair during 1968.
The following year it was sold to SAATAS
East Indonesia as PK-LEA
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PK-LEA was badly damaged
by Cyclone Tracy while parked at Darwin Airport on Christmas Eve 1974. Stripped of engines and parts, it was at East Point Military Museum, Darwin in September 1975 |
Dove 1B CR-TAG Manatuto
of Transportes Aireos De Timor after overhaul by Hawker de Havilland at
Bankstown Airport, Sydney. TAT flew two Doves on local Portuguese Timor passenger services, having major maintenance in Sydney and later Perth |
CR-TAG in January 1979, abandoned on the
ramp at Darwin NT.
During the Indonesian invasion of Timor, an Australian pilot reportedly flew it while home-made bombs were rolled out the cabin door, before escaping to Darwin in January 1976, carrying Timorese resistance figures to safety |
When the RNZAF retired its fleet of DH.104
Devons and placed them up for disposal in 1970, this particular aircraft
was an
attractive buy for an Australian customer.
Australian Certification problems of ex military aircraft could be avoided
because
it had been built as a civil Dove 1 ZK-AQV and following a NZ sales tour, joined the RNZAF as their first Devon NZ1801. It was acquired by Australian Helicopters of Adelaide and ferried from NZ in April 1971, to become VH-MGT. Seen at Bankstown in November 1973, in the markings of associate company Personnel Air Transport |
By December 1976 VH-MGT
was based at Jandakot Airport, Perth with Amalgamated Air, carrying workers
to mining sites. Paint scheme was white with orange trim lines |
VH-MGT was followed by this trio of RNZAF
Devons, seen at Perth Airport in December 1971. They were purchased by Murchison Air Services which planned to use them on their third-level airline services from Perth. NZ1814, NZ1817, NZ1818 had registrations reserved as VH-RTY, RTZ & RTX, but before work began on their civil conversions, Murchison was taken over by the expanding Trans West Air Charter, which had no interest in the aging Devons. They were sold "as is" to a Perth dealer and moved by road to Jandakot Airport where two were made airworthy. |
NZ1814 being assembled at Perth Airport in
May 1971, prior to having the Gipsy Queen engines hung. |
Flashback - Mike Madden photographed Devon
C.1 NZ1814 at Whenuapai NZ in February 1962, all silver finish |
NZ1814 was registered VH-CJX at Jandakot
during May 1972. White with orange and back trim |
Jandakot charter operator Altair Pty Ltd
used Doves and a Heron on contracts carrying workers to iron ore mining
sites in the north of WA and Barrow Island for the oil drilling fields at Barrow Island, extending to Broome and Timor |
NZ1818 was registered VH-CJY at Jandakot
in October 1972 to Altair. Painted white and blue. Here it is at Narrogin WA in January 1973, as entrant No.32 in the annual Air Trial |
THOSE
INFAMOUS AUSTRALIAN RE-REGISTRATIONS The Australian Department of Civil Aviation and its predecessors refused requests by owners to change the registrations of their aircraft, or for registrations ahead of the strict sequence. However in 1947 when DCA issued registrations with the initials of politicans and bureaucrats to its own aircraft fleet (DC-3s VH-DMV, VH-JVF etc), the policy soon unravelled. The result was many aircraft changing registrations as they moved from owner to owner, causing later historians (and the Department itself) an on-going headache. A humble Dove 5 c/n 04119 provides a good example of the re-registration tangle: VP-KDG East African Airways Corporation, Nairobi, Kenya (1948) VH-MAB Mandated Airlines Ltd, Lae (6.51) VH-AWF Airlines (WA) Ltd, Perth WA (4.55) VH-MMP McRobertson Miller Airlines Ltd, Perth (11.55) VH-RAJ Robbys Aircraft, Parafield SA (4.59) VH-TLU SA Air Taxis Ltd, Adelaide Airport (12.62) VH-RCI SA Air Taxis Ltd, Adelaide Airport (9.63) VH-CTS City Centre Air Taxi Service, Melbourne (11.65) Damaged main spar in heavy landing at Geelong Vic 17.11.68. Written off. These are my photos of this one aircraft: |
VH-RAJ Parafield SA in
February 1962. Polished metal finish and white |
Adelaide Airport January
1963 in SA Air Taxis' VH-TL series for owners the Treloar family. Metal
finish and white |
Adelaide October 1963,
SAAT fleet changed to VH-RC series for new manager Richard Cavill. White
& blue |
Parafield September 1966, now VH-CTS with
City Centre Air Taxi Services, Melbourne. Blue, gold & white |
The stripped hulk of VH-CTS at Warbirds Aviation
Museum, Mildura Vic in June 1972 |
AUSTRALIAN
DE HAVILLAND DH.114 HERONS The Heron enjoyed a revival in Australia during the 1970s after Connair at Alice Springs gained approval to modernise and extend the lives of their Heron fleet. The original DH Gipsy Queen engines were replaced with 260hp Lycoming IO-540s, the wings were re-sparred and strengthened and many improvements made in the cockpit and the 16 passenger cabin. A total of 8 Herons were rebuilt at Alice Springs. |
On board Connair Lycoming Heron VH-CLX
between Bathurst Island and Darwin in January 1979
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VH-CLX at Bathurst Island NT in monsoonal
weather during January 1979
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This is the prototype DH.114 Heron, which
first flew at Hatfield in May 1950.
It was purchased in 1973 by Perth charter operator Altair and ferried from Denmark as OY-DGS. Seen at Jandakot in February 1974 as VH-CJS, in use carrying oil drilling workers to the north of WA |
VH-CJS at Parafield in
October 1975, now operated by Coveair, Adelaide |
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By 1976 VH-CJS was back in Perth, flying
charter for Amalgamated Air.
I took this shot in March 1976 at Adelaide
Airport, where it had just arrived with a load of passengers from Perth
during an airline strike
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