VH-TAS    'James Cook'                                    c/n  93

                                     Essendon, 1954

                                     Delivered to TAA in October 1948.  Served with the airline until 1956 when it followed a
                                     path similar to sister ship VH-TAP, viz:   Sold to Pakistan International Airlines in 1956 as
                                     AP-AHS.  Purchased by Fokker in Holland in 1959 as PH-NLP.  Was to have been leased
                                     to Euravia Air Charter NV as PH-EUT but that didn't happen.  Instead it was purchased by
                                     Beldex Corp as N559R in 1960.  1961 saw it with the Peabody Coal Company (probably
                                     as an executive transport rather than lugging bags of coal around), then to Louis Laramore in
                                     1961 who re-registered it N559L.  In February 1962 Beldex Corporation purchased it back
                                     (they must have been a broker) and re-registered it  N568R.  Stephens Inc. bought it in February
                                     1963 and sold it to Little Rock Airmotive in September 1970. It was nearly immediately sold to
                                     Faberge Inc. and given the registration that it wears currently, namely N396CG.  It was bought
                                     by Western Commander in August 1972 and transferred to Western Leasing Corporation later
                                     that month. Summa Corporation bought it in August 1974 and eventually stored it at Van Nuys.
                                     Kings Point Corporation bought it in February 1977 and sold it to Gemini Management Corporation
                                     in November 1977. Harold Cousins bought it in July 1980 and sold it to C and M Airways in August
                                     1989. Gar Aero Inc. bought it three months later and sold it to Red Stevenson in July 1990.  It has
                                     been registered to Ed Schnepf since 1993 and I ran into it at Camarillo Airport in Ventura County
                                     in 1999 (below).   I think that Beldex probably installed the radar sometime in the early 1960s.