VH-TGC Beech 65-A80 Queen Air
(c/n ?)

One of four Beech Queen Airs operated by TAA from 1964 to
1967. They were flown by the
airline on low
density routes. One of them (-TGD) was used in Papua/New Guinea
on Sunbird
services for a while. -TGC
was added to the register on 26 November 1964 and sold to the
Royal Flying Doctor
Service in July 1968, based in Queensland. Greg Banfield's
nice shot above
was taken at
Bankstown in
February 1966. I have lost the provenance of the B&W photo
below.
In 1979 it went to
Civil Flying Services at Moorabbin, and a couple more owners later was
with
Coddair Airlines of
Brisbane. On 25 October 1985,
whilst on a charter flight from Archerfield to
Trinidad Station,
Queensland, the pilot attempted
(an inadvertent) landing at that remote locale
with the undercarriage
up. When the propellers struck
the ground the pilot attempted to go around,
but the damage to the props
was such that the
aircraft banked and yawed to port and crashed.
There were fatal
casualties, but the accident report does
not state how many souls were killed.
