VH-ABZ  Fairchild 24K                (c/n  3314)

                           
                        
                              Another of my personal favorites.  This photograph was taken at Moorabbin in 1957.  Below are
                              two earlier shots of it.  The one on the left depicts the aircraft in its original livery.  The lower right
                              hand shot illustrates it just post-war, repainted in the then Fairchild 'standard' markings for new F24s
                              built subsequent to 1946.  Finally, a contemporary shot of it by Phil Vabre at the 2006 AAAA Fly-
                              In at Narrandera. .Notice the absence of spats on my shot above. Most owners dispensed with them,
                              especially if they were operating from muddy fields, since mud would accumulate under the spats with,
                              sometimes, rather interesting (ground loop) results.  With today's almost universal hard runways, the
                              problem went away.   Fortunately either the original, or another pair of spats was found.  VH-ABZ
                              did its war service "bit"  as A36-2.   This was not a brand new machine when imported in 1938,
                              having previously been on the US Civil register as NC20637.  

                          

                                                                                                             

                           





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