VH-TBA  Douglas DC-6     'Abel Tasman'                                  c/n  42900

                                           TAA leased this DC-6 from KLM over the Christmas holiday period in 1953.  Here it is
                                           seen at Western Junction Airport, Launceston, Tasmania in December of that year.   (It was
                                           used mainly on the  Melbourne-Launceston-Hobart route).   It was more or less given the
                                           standard TAA livery, (despite the fact that it was only a three months' lease) although it
                                           retained the KLM engine cowling flashes.   As soon as it got back to Holland it was re-
                                           registered from PH-TPW to PH-DPW, since that was the era when the lead Dutch
                                           registration letter was changed to be indicative of the airliner's manufacturer.  After a stint
                                           in the West Indies as PJ-DPW it went to Ecuatoriana as HC-AIT.  Like so many of the
                                           old propliners it gravitated to Miami and was broken up in 1970 whilst registered N8703A.